LaurieAnnie's photos

Terracotta Statuette of Eros Playing a Lyre Greek, 3rd-2nd century BC Accession # 17.230.46 Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.

Terracotta Statuette of a Boy and a Rooster Greek, Asia Minor, Pontus, 2nd century BC Accession # 06.1087 Roosters were a favored pet of young boys in ancient Greece. Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.

Bronze Askos (flask) in the Form of a Goatskin Greek, 3rd-1st century BC Accession # 18.12.11 Goatskins were used as containers for wine in antiquity. This example is represented as filled to capacity, with the skin stretched to its limit. Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.

Statuette of a horse or elephant rider, 3rd century b.c.; Hellenistic Greek; Said to be from ancient Athribis, Egypt Bronze H. 9 3/4 in. (24.8 cm) Edith Perry Chapman Fund, 1955 (55.11.11) This bronze statuette of a youth is depicted with the skin and scalp of an elephant drawn up over his head and tied in a knot across his chest. Originally, he held in his left hand the reins of a horse or elephant, now missing; in his right hand, he may have held a crop. The statuette may depict Demetrios I of Bactria, who is represented on coins wearing the scalp of an elephant in recognition of his conquests in India. Other possible identifications include Alexander the Great, who is similarly represented, and Ptolemy III Euergetes of Egypt. Text from: www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/alex/ho_55.11.11.htm

Terracotta Skyphos (deep drinking cup) Greek, Attic, red-figure, ca. 490-480 BC Attributed to the Brygos Painter Maenads in rocky landscape Accession # 29.131.4 The disparate handles increase the manipulability of the cup. The decoration shows two maenads (female followers of Dionysos, god of wine). The one on the obverse plays the flute as the lower border of her garment billows gently; her thyrsos, a fennel stalk crowned with ivy, has been set to one side. The maenad on the reverse bends and stretches vigorously, as indicated by her hair and the extremities of the feline pelt that stream out. Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.

Terracotta cup- cow's hoof Greek, Attic, red-figure, ca. 470-460 BC Attributed to a painter recalling the Brygos Painter Herdsman with two cows, dog, and hare Accession # 38.11.2 Because landscape is rarely depicted on Attic vases, the amount of detail here is exceptional. Moreover, the herdsman's attire- shoes and a cap and a cloak of fur or hide- suggests cold weather. Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.

Terracotta Kylix (drinking cup) Greek, Attic, red-figure, ca. 510-500 BC Attributed to the Poseidon Painter Interior: Maenad with bird Accession # 23.160.91 Like the cup by the Kiss Painter (07.286.50), this work was shaved down in antiquity. The iconography is interesting since maenads (female followers of Dionysos, the god of wine) are not commonly associated with birds. She seems to be letting a dove fly, much as Athena releases her owl. Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.

Fragmentary Terracotta Kylix (drinking cup) Greek, Attic, red-figure, ca. 430 BC Attributed to the Kalliope Painter Interior: Apollo and Kalliope Exterior: lower bodies of two figures Accession # 12.229.12 The Kalliope Painter was a somewhat older colleague in the same workshop as the Eretria Painter. He specialized in cups- this one is his namepiece. It shows the god Apollo seated in a chair. The standing woman is Kalliope. In the fifth century BC, the muses were not associated with with specific arts, as later. Kalliope, however, was often considered the mother of Orpheus. Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.

Glass Portrait Head of a Woman Roman, mold-pressed, first half of the 2nd century AD Accession # 59.11.8 This portrait, in glass imitating rare and valuable lapis lazuli, was made by pressing glass into an open mold. It probably represents the goddess Juno (Greek Hera), the consort of Jupiter Capitolinus, and must have been set up in either a public temple or a rich private sanctuary. Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.

Bronze statuette of a bull Roman, ca. 2nd century AD Accession # 11.140.9 The bull was a powerful symbol in many ancient religions, none more so than that of Egypt, where the animal was worshiped as the god Apis. The Romans found it easier to accept the Apis bull than some of the more exotic deities of the Egyptian pantheon, like the ibis-headed god Thoth or the jackal-headed Anubis, and they ridiculed Egyptians as worshipers of animals such as cats and crocodiles. Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.

Terracotta Vase Fragment with a Relief of Minerva Roman, lead-glazed ware, 1st century AD Accession # 17.194.1702 Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.

Circular Plaster Relief Roman, 1st century AD Said to be from Egypt Cast from a Greek metal relief of the 3rd century BC Below: youth with a phiale and a cornucopia, seated woman crowned by flying Eros, woman with cornucopia Above: stars and caps of the Dioskouri Accession # 31.11.15 The plaster reliefs displayed in this case likely served as models for Roman copies of Greek metalware. Such casts undoubtedly also inspired other kinds of Roman works, including intaglios, relief-decorated stone sarcophagi, and terracotta lamps. Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.

Terracotta Relief of a Nereid Carrying a Cuirass Greek, South Italian, Tarentine, 350-300 BC Accession # 2003.176 Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.

Glass beaker Period: Early Imperial Date: 1st century A.D. Culture: Roman Medium: Glass Dimensions: diameter 2 1/2in. (6.3cm) Classification: Glass Credit Line: Gift of Henry G. Marquand, 1881 Accession Number: 81.10.222 Text from: www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/1300...

Onyx Cameo of the Emperor Gaius (Caligula) Roman, ca. 37-43 AD Accession # 11.195.7 Caligula is represented here as a victorious general- the triumphant "imperator," but in fact he did not win any wars for Rome. His lack of military success and prowess alienated him from the army, and without its support, his rule became increasingly insecure. He was assassinated in Rome when aged only twenty-eight. Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.

Cameo Portrait of Emperor Augustus, 41–54; Julio-Claudian Roman Sardonyx 1 1/2 x 1 1/8 in. (37 x 29 mm) Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1942 (42.11.30) Cameos were a highly developed art form that involved carving details on multilayered gemstones or colored glass so as to leave a white surface in relief against a dark background. Gems and glass were engraved using a drill with changeable heads and a bow wrapped around the drill shaft that was drawn back and forth to make it rotate. The art of gem cutting reached its peak under Augustus. Gems often bore overtly propagandistic subjects, such as this cameo portraying Augustus with semidivine attributes. The cream-colored portrait rises masterfully from the violet-tinged brown translucent ground. Famous since the seventeenth century, when it was in the Arundel collection (it was later in the Marlborough collection), this virtuoso demonstration of the Roman gem cutter's skill shows the mature but energetic and well-muscled emperor from the back, his head in noble profile, the ribbons of his laurel wreath floating behind him. He turns his back so that his shoulder displays his baldric and the aegis incorporating heads of Medusa and a wind god. The latter is perhaps intended as a personification of the summer winds that brought the corn fleet from Egypt and, thus, an oblique reference to Augustus' annexation of Egypt after the defeat of Marc Antony and Cleopatra at Actium in 31 B.C. The precedents for this imagery lie not in the Republican tradition of gem carving but in the art of Hellenistic kingdoms, where rulers—following the example of Alexander the Great—assumed the attributes of various gods and heroes. Text from: www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/jucl/ho_42.11.30.htm

Wall Decoration with a Reclining Youth Stucco Mesopotamia, excavated at Ctesiphon, Ma'aridh V Sasanian period, 6th century AD Joint expedition of the German State Museums and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Accession # 32.150.30 Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.

Wall Tile with Fettered Asiatic Captive Polychrome Faience Egypt, excavated at Thebes, Palace of Ramses III at Medinet Habu Dynasty 20, reign of Ramses III, New Kingdom, 1184-1153 BC Accession # 26.7.969 Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.