Bronze pointed neck-amphora with stand

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The gleaming golden color visible on the surface of these bronzes provides a rare glimpse of the original appearance of a bronze from classical antiquity. The quality of the chasing on the amphora is particularly fine; on the shoulder is a tongue pattern in shallow relief, below which are bands and running spirals with a chain of horizontal palmettes in between. The separately cast handles terminate at the shoulder with spotted feline heads fringed with flamelike tufts of hair. A terracotta pointed neck-amphora and its conical stand can also been seen in this gallery.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Museum's collection of Greek and Roman art comprises more than thirty thousand works ranging in date from the Neolithic period (ca. 4500 B.C.) to the time of the Roman emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity in A.D. 312. It includes the art of many cultures and is among the most comprehensive in North America. The geographic regions represented are Greece and Italy, but not as delimited by modern political frontiers: Greek colonies were established around the Mediterranean basin and on the shores of the Black Sea, and Cyprus became increasingly Hellenized. For Roman art, the geographical limits coincide with the expansion of the Roman Empire. The department also exhibits the art of prehistoric Greece (Helladic, Cycladic, and Minoan) and pre-Roman art of Italic peoples, notably the Etruscans.

Metropolitan Museum of Art