Glass miniature jar

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Semi-translucent green, appearing opaque black; handles in same color; trail in opaque white. Irregular everted rim; short, concave neck; narrow, almost horizontal shoulder; bulbous, oval body with thick side; round, thick bottom, with off-center semicircular pontil scar; two handles applied to edge of shoulder and top of side over top of trail decoration, drawn up and in, attached to lip of rim, with excess glass looped over and trailed back along left side of handle, with tooled indents at top facing outwards and flattened on inside above rim. On body, continuous trail applied as a horizontal zigzag band. Complete, but internal crack running down side and across bottom, and one upward spike of trail missing; dulling, pitting of surface bubbles, patches of thick creamy brown weathering, especially on the inside and trail, and faint iridescence on trail. Probably used for storing a small quantity of perfume or cosmetic, and possibly worn as a pendant on a chain.

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