Glass perfume bottle

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Colorless. Outsplayed rim with plain rounded lip; cylindrical neck expanding downwards; bell-shaped body, less than one-third of total height; uneven, slightly concave bottom. Intact; many pinprick and some larger elongated bubbles; some dulling and pitting on exterior, soil encrustation, weathering, and brilliant iridescence covering most of interior. A large lump of dry earth is loose inside the bottle.

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