Glass cup

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Translucent pale blue. Flaring rim, with uneven, cracked-off edge; side expands downwards, then slants inwards; slightly concave bottom. One horizontal wheel-abraded line immediately below rim, with more bands on body above point of greatest diameter. Intact, except for weathered chip in rim; many pinprick bubbles and blowing striations; deep pitting and weathering, with areas of soil encrustation, dulling, thick creamy weathering, and brilliant 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.

Metropolitan Museum of Art