Glass jug

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Translucent olive green; handle and one trail in same color, another trail in deep turquoise blue. Everted, horizontal rim with rounded lip; flaring mouth and short cylindrical neck; bulbous, biconical body, then tapering to hollow stem; large splayed foot with thick tubular edge made by folding; concave bottom with small kick at center and large pontil scar; rod handle to side of body at point of greatest diameter, drawn up vertically, turned in with pinched fold above rim, and trailed off under rim. Body decorated with bands of four closely spaced shallow ribs in a downward spiral from left to right, extending from neck to mid-point down side and then fading on lower body; thick trail wound three times from left to right around neck, forming a double band; over and between this band, a fine trail has been wound, forming an irregular zigzag. Broken and repaired with one small impact hole in side; pinprick and a few larger bubbles, including many elongated bubbles in handle, and one or two gritty inclusions; very little weathering, but some faint patches on interior.

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