Glass pendant bead in the shape of a plumbline

Glass pendant bead in the shape of a plumbline

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dark green, appearing opaque black; trail in opaque white. Elongated body, expanding downwards, with two vertical tooled indents in side; pierced through from top to bottom with a large, regular hole; rounded bottom edge. A single marvered trail wound at least 13 times round body in a spiral. Broken at narrower (top) end; dulling, severe pitting of surface bubbles, faint brownish weathering, ands small patches of iridescence. The date and provenance of this large bead are uncertain, but it may be Etruscan, dating to the 7th century B.C. and used as decoration on a fibula.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Glass pendant bead in the shape of a plumblineGlass pendant bead in the shape of a plumblineGlass pendant bead in the shape of a plumblineGlass pendant bead in the shape of a plumblineGlass pendant bead in the shape of a plumbline

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.