Glass skyphos (drinking cup)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Colorless. Beveled, slightly inverted rim, with slight lip above tops of handles; slightly convex curving side tapering downward; splayed base ring with flat bottom edge; almost flat bottom; two ring handles applied to sides of body, carved out from blanks surrounded by irregular raised squared-off areas, with flat thumb-rests above rings and projecting wings above and below; vestigial scrollwork flanking either side of handles. Body complete but with many internal strain cracks, and restored handles: one handle complete except for end of thumb-rest above ring, the other surviving only as the top of the ring; pinprick and larger bubbles; dulling, iridescence, patches of creamy weathering, and some spots of encrustation. Rotary grinding marks on interior and exterior. Stands unevenly on base. Many glass vessels in the Hellenistic period were made of intentionally decolorized glass. The attempt to make them look colorless and transparent may be associated with the desire to imitate luxury rock-crystal vessels.

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