Glass mosaic dish

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Translucent blue, translucent turquoise green, opaque white, and opaque yellow. Vertical rim; shallow, convex side, tapering downward to broad, slightly convex bottom. Composite mosaic pattern formed from polygonal sections and square segments of four canes: the first in a blue ground with a white spiral; the second in a turquoise green ground with a yellow spiral; the third in yellow segments, and the fourth in white segments. A turquoise green cane wound spirally with a single white thread is attached as a rim. Intact, but one chip and crack in bottom and two holes drilled in side below rim; pitting and dulling on interior, small patches of iridescent weathering, and soil encrustation on exterior. Rotary grinding marks on interior. This bowl is highly decorative, with spiral designs and contrasting patches of translucent and opaque glass. It imitates an even more luxurious type of tableware, for the prominent squares of yellow glass act as substitutes for sections of gold glass.

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