Marble Statue Group of the Three Graces

Ancient Roman Three nude female figures stand together: Aglaia (Beauty), Euphrosyne (Mirth), and Thalia (Abundance). They served as handmaidens to Aphrodite and represented the cycle of giving, accepting, and returning favors. The Roman philosopher Seneca called this cycle "the chief bond of human society."

This 2nd-century CE Roman group copies a Greek original from the 2nd century BCE. It was discovered in Rome in 1892 near the ancient Forum of Nerva and Vespasian's Temple of Peace. The composition became the canonical formula for depicting the Graces and was reproduced on everything from mirrors to sarcophagi for centuries.

It sits in Gallery 162 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it has been displayed since 1992 (first on loan, formally acquired in 2010).