Glass bell beaker

Glass bell beaker

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Translucent blue green; trail in uncertain color, possibly opaque white. Vertical, rounded rim; side tapers downwards, then flares to carination at junction with rounded bottom, slightly flattened at center with pontil mark. A single fine trail wound round five times below rim; below, body decorated with evenly spaced vertical ribs, ending at carination. Intact; pinprick bubbles and blowing striations; dulling, whitish weathering, and some soil encrustation on exterior, soil encrustation around bottom and creamy brown weathering around side on interior.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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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.