Glass bottle

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Colorless; trail in translucent cobalt blue. Irregular oval everted rim with thick, rounded lip; cylindrical neck, expanding downwards; almost horizontal shoulder; elongated body, convex at top, then concave down side, and bulging at base; deeply pushed-in bottom with pontil scar. Trail applied on outer shoulder and wound round six times in a spiral, extending on to upper body, then drawn down and up in long strokes, creating a pattern of six finger-like shapes, some of which extend onto bottom. Intact; many pinprick bubbles; dulling, some pitting, and brilliant iridescent weathering. Vase with blue applied threads.

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