Glass amphora

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Translucent pale blue green; handles in same color. Uneven collared rim, folded out, down, and up, with lip above mouth; cylindrical neck expanding downwards to join imperceptibly with ovoid body that then curves out to low, splayed base ring; slightly concave bottom; rod handles with a single central rib, applied as a pad with a long, downward tail on upper sides of body, drawn up and out, then turned in at an angle and pressed on to neck below rim. Complete, but cracks in neck and body around one of the handles; a few pinprick bubbles and black streaked impurities in handles; slight iridescence and small patches of limy encrustation and weathering. Bluish blown glass bottle with two handles and double lip.

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