Glass phiale (libation bowl)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Colorless with light yellow-green tinge. Flaring rim with rounded edge; concave neck; curving side, tapering sharply to convex bottom. On exterior, one horizontal cut groove on underside of rim; another uneven groove around neck; on side, extending to bottom, a pattern of four pointed petals, each with two parallel vertical grooves extending from base to apex, alternating with four vertical bands of six parallel grooves; on bottom, a circle disk with an six-pointed rosette at center. Intact, but with many internal strain cracks; pinprick bubbles; slight dulling and patches of faint iridescent weathering on exterior, some retaining impression of a pattern resembling woven textile. Rotary grinding marks on 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