Glass base fragment of a cylindrical bottle

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Translucent light blue green. Fragment with only small parts of sides of cylindrical body remaining; round bottom with central pontil scar. Base stamp comprising Latin inscription between two concentric lines and raised circular band around hollow center. Complete bottom, broken from body with jagged edges; pinprick and larger bubbles; faint iridescent weathering. The fragment bears a stamp with the name of the maker, Q(uintus) Casius Nocturnus. All of the recorded bottles with his stamp have been found in northeastern France (Côte-d’Or), except for this piece, which would appear to have come from Cyprus.

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