Glass beaker

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Colorless with pale yellow green tinge. Thick, outsplayed rim, cracked off and ground; cylindrical body with almost straight side, then curving in; large integral tubular splayed ring base, made by folding; almost flat but uneven bottom. On body, five horizontal grooves, arranged at regular intervals down vertical side. One large hole in rim, one chip in exterior edge of rim, and one large crack extending round upper body from hole; pinprick bubbles; dulling, iridescence, and patches of whitish weathering.

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