Terracotta plaque

Period:: Classical

Date:: ca. 450 B.C.

Culture:: Greek, Melian

Medium:: Terracotta

Dimensions:: Overall: 7 3/4 x 7 5/16 in. (19.7 x 18.6 cm)

Classification:: Terracottas

Credit Line:: Fletcher Fund, 1925

Accession Number:: 25.78.26

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 157

Eurykleia washing Odysseus's feet

One of the dramatic threads in the account of Odysseus's return to Ithaka is the gradual revelation of his identity. Here, Odysseus appears seated before a columned facade that represents his palace. Before him stand his son, Telemachos, and his wife, Penelope. As the old nurse, Eurykleia, washes Odysseus's feet, she recognizes him from an old scar. Artistic depictions such as this are interesting not only for the illustrative detail that they provide but also for the subjects chosen.

#836: Kids: Terracotta plaque, Part 1

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#837: Kids: Terracotta plaque, Part 2

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For Audio Guide tours and information, visit metmuseum.org/audioguide.

Richter, Gisela M. A. 1926. "New Accessions in the Classical Department." Bulletin of the Metropolian Museum of Art, 21 (3): pp. 80-1, fig. 1.

Richter, Gisela M. A. 1927. Handbook of the Classical Collection. pp. 109-10, fig. 72, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Richter, Gisela M. A. 1930. Handbook of the Classical Collection. pp. 109-10, fig. 72, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Richter, Gisela M. A. 1953. Handbook of the Greek Collection. pp. 80, 222, pl. 62d, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1979. Greek Art of the Aegean Islands. no. 182, p. 226, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Kossatz-Deissmann, Anneliese, Brigitte Servais-Soyez, Fulvio Canciani, Giovannangelo Camporeale, Hans Peter Isler, Ingrid Krauskopf, Odette Touchefeu-Meynier, Marcel Le Glay, and Dr. Jean-Charles Balty. 1988. Eros-Herakles, Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae, Vol. 4. Eurykleia, no. 8, Zürich: Artemis Verlag Zurich und Munchen.

Buitron-Oliver, Diana. 1992. The Odyssey and Ancient Art: An Epic in Word and Image. p. 156, fig. 37, Annandale-on-Hudson: Edith C. Blum Art Institute, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.

Kossatz-Deissmann, Anneliese, Brigitte Servais-Soyez, Fulvio Canciani, Giovannangelo Camporeale, Hans Peter Isler, Ingrid Krauskopf, Odette Touchefeu-Meynier, Marcel Le Glay, and Dr. Jean-Charles Balty. 1994. Oidipous-Theseus, Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae, Vol. 7. Penelope, no. 20; Telemachos, no. 8, Zürich: Artemis Verlag Zurich und Munchen.

Picón, Carlos A. 2007. Art of the Classical World in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Greece, Cyprus, Etruria, Rome no. 113, pp. 105, 428, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Karoglou, Kyriaki. 2016. "The Collection of Greek Terracotta Figurines at The Metropolitan Museum of Art." Les Carnets de l’ACoSt, 14: p. 3, n. 20 [p. 8], fig. 6.

Essays
Women in Classical Greece

Timelines
Ancient Greece, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.

Art of the Classical World in The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Greece, Cyprus, Etruria, Rome
Greek Art From Prehistoric to Classical: A Resource for Educators
Greek Art of the Aegean Islands

Department

Greek and Roman Art (17,341)

Object Type / Material

Geographic Location