Glass 'Mercury' bottle

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Colorless with pale yellow green tinge. Broad rim, folded out, down, round and in, and flattened on top surface; thick-walled cylindrical neck, expanding downwards; pushed-in horizontal shoulder with raised rounded corners; square, thick-walled body, with flat sides; concave bottom. In relief on bottom, standing peacock, facing right, with crest above head and tail feathers displayed behind in a stylized fashion with two circular rows of dots. Intact; dulling, pitting, and brilliant iridescence covering almost all of surfaces. Bottles of this type are often called Mercury flasks because the figure of Mercury, the Roman god of commerce and trade, appears in molded relief on the bottom of some examples. On the bottom of this bottle is a peacock with outstretched tail feathers. These sturdy and very portable containers are found mainly in Italy and the western provinces; they are virtually unknown from the eastern half of the Empire.

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