Glass cameo cup fragment
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
Translucent purple with opaque white overlay. Plain vertical rim with rounded lip; convex-curving side, turned in towards round bottom. Decoration in relief on exterior: a symplegma scene of a kneeling naked man with head turned downwards behind a woman, also naked but with an anklet on her right leg; the man's left hand rests on her back and his right arm reaches back for support to a pile of cushions on the end of the low bed or couch, which is covered with linen; he is clean shaven and has short wavy hair; suspended above the lovers is a garland tied at the top with a bow; immediately below the bed is a broad, horizontal ground line, with a second parallel line below around base. In two conjoining fragments; pinprick bubbles in body; on body, pitting, dulling and deep weathering, with some iridescence; on decoration, some pitting and creamy brown weathering. Horizontal grinding marks on interior. Roman decorative arts include subjects that are of an explicit sexual nature. Scenes of lovemaking appear on everyday objects such as pottery and terracotta lamps, but they are also featured on luxury items such as silver and, as here, on cameo glass drinking cups.
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.