Glass beaker

Glass beaker

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Translucent pale blue green. Flaring rim, with uneven, cracked-off edge; side expands downwards to prominent hollow bulge, forming carination, then slants inwards; low, solid ring base; low kick in bottom. Single trail wound unevenly 1½ times around top of body. Intact; pinprick and large bubbles; pitting, dulling, iridescence, and patches of creamy brown weathering.


Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Glass beakerGlass beakerGlass beakerGlass beakerGlass beaker

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.