Glass ring

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Translucent pale yellow Broad, irregular hoop, made by folding, with ends pressed together under bezel; flat, irregular, oval bezel, to which a second layer of glass has been added. On bezel, second layer with portrait head in high relief: male head facing right, wearing wreath, tied at back, with short wavy hair; around head, clockwise inscription reading Divo Claudio Imperato(ri). Intact, but weathered chip on bezel below man's chin; dulling, slight pitting, and iridescent weathering. The inscription identifies the portrait as that of the deified emperor Claudius (r. A.D. 41–54) but the ring may have been made much later, perhaps in the short reign of the emperor Claudius Gothicus (r. A.D. 268–270), who was also deified by the Senate on his death.

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