Glass finger ring

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Translucent cobalt blue. Broad hoop with D-shaped cross section with beveled edges, broadening into large oval bezel, concave on upper surface, with raised rim sloping outwards. The bezel would have been decorated with an inlay made of stone or glass imitating a gem. Complete except for large hole in center of hollow bezel and weathering crack across back of hoop; pitting, patches of thick creamy weathering, and brilliant iridescence. The concave oval bezel originally would have contained a decorative stone or imitation glass gem.

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