Glass double head-shaped flask

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Translucent light purple. Flaring mouth; cylindrical neck, expanding downwards; globular body with prominent seam running from neck down sides; flat bottom. Blown in a two-part negative mold to produce relief decoration on body of two heads back to back with similar features: hair arranged around the face as evenly spaced knobs in three regular tiers, prominent arched browline, almond-shaped eyes with recessed pupils, narrow nose with flaring nostrils, small mouth with straight lips slightly parted, and fat cheeks. Complete, but rim missing and with one hole in side of body; pinprick and elongated bubbles, and black impurities in top of neck; slight weathering and soli encrustation on exterior, thick encrustation on parts of interior.

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