Glass krateriskos (unguent jar)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Translucent blue, with opaque white trail(s). Thickened and rounded rim with everted horizontal lip; tall cylindrical neck, tapering slightly downward; sloping shoulder; bulbous body; pedestal foot, conical, then tooled out into a flat, circular pad; uneven bottom with central kick; on opposite sides of body, two loop handles, applied over trail decoration. Marvered trail(s) on neck and body, tooled into a festoon pattern. Broken and repaired, with part of rim and neck missing, a large hole in one side of body, and most of handles lost; thick creamy enamel-like weathering covering all of surfaces, with some soil encrustation on interior. Among Bronze Age imports into Cyprus from Egypt were glass containers that held perfumes, scented oils, or cosmetics used for funeral purposes. Afterward, the jars were left in the burials. Such jars have been found on Cyprus at Kalavassos in tombs of the fourteenth century B.C. An additional example with a pristine unweathered surface can been seen nearby.

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