Glass lid

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Translucent blue-green. Fire-polished, inverted rim, with thick, bulging fold above; concave shoulder; neck conical on lower half, cylindrical but expanding downwards on upper half; hollow knob at top, made by folding out, down, and in, forming beveled upper surface around small opening. Intact; some pinprick and large bubbles, and blowing striations; dulling, soil encrustation, and faint iridescent weathering. The lid must have belonged to a glass cinerary urn. Lids such as this with a perforated knob have also been described as libation funnels since examples have been found with the lid pointing down into the urn so that libations could be poured over the ashes of the deceased.

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