Glass bowl

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Translucent yellow green, with one patch in light blue green. Rounded, slightly inverted rim; hemispherical body with convex curving side; convex bottom. On interior, two horizontal grooves cut in a band below rim; on exterior, a band of two concentric circles around bottom and a single, small central circle. Intact, but internal strain cracks around top of side below rim; a few bubbles; slight dulling and isolated patches of brown iridescent weathering on exterior. Rotary grinding marks on interior. Hemispherical and conical bowls were two of the most common and popular shapes of the Late Hellenistic period. They were fashioned not only in glass but also in metal and pottery. Those made of glass were later supplanted by deeply colored varieties and by bowls decorated with tooled ribs.

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