Glass bottle

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Translucent cobalt blue. Everted rim, partially folded over and in; cylindrical neck, with slight horizontal bulge line towards base; sloping convex shoulder with prominent outer ridge; cylindrical body with sides slightly expanding downwards with prominent horizontal ridge below; convex undercurve; circular bottom with hollow central boss. Two mold seams run from lower part of neck down sides to top of prominent horizontal ridge; a separate cup-shaped section forms the lower body and base. On shoulder, indistinct pattern of wavy radiating lines; on body, continuous frieze divided by mold into two pairs of matching panels, comprising four vertical double-ended thyrsoi alternating with four palm trees, all connected by arched fronds, and in the field below eight five-pointed stars; around bottom, a frieze of thirty-three upturned, rounded tongues in raised relief; on bottom, raised circle around edge, two concentric circles surrounding a thicker and higher ring around a hollow central boss. Intact; pitting, dulling, and patches of creamy brown weathering and iridescence.

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.