Terracotta fragments of closed shapes

Art Historical Context

These terracotta fragments from closed shapes, dating to the 6th/5th centuries BCE, offer a glimpse into the vibrant world of Attic Greek pottery during the Archaic and early Classical periods. Produced in Athens, the epicenter of ancient Greek ceramics, these pieces likely belonged to functional vases such as amphorae or oinochoai—vessels used for storing wine, oil, or water in households and symposia. Attic workshops were renowned for their technical mastery, wheel-throwing clay on fast-spinning potters' wheels and firing it in kilns to achieve durable, reddish-orange terracotta. Artistically, these fragments highlight the transition from the bold black-figure technique of the Archaic era—where figures were incised through a glossy black slip—to the more naturalistic red-figure style emerging in the Classical period, leaving reserved clay for detailed anatomy and drapery. Though incomplete, they preserve echoes of everyday life, mythology, or heroic tales that adorned such wares, which were traded across the Mediterranean, spreading Greek culture far and wide. A generous gift from Dietrich von Bothmer, the Metropolitan Museum of Art's esteemed curator of Greek and Roman Art, these shards enrich our understanding of ancient craftsmanship and join the museum's vast collection of over 30,000 Greek vases, inviting visitors to piece together the past.