Black jasper intaglio portrait of a Roman lady

Black jasper intaglio portrait of a Roman lady

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The art of gem cutting was highly prized in Rome. Julius Caesar is said to have been a passionate collector of gems, and Augustus’s signet ring was made by Dioskourides, the finest engraver of his time. Gems were often used to recall family traditions or political allegiances, but they also had a practical purpose, for when they were engraved in negative as intaglios, they could be used as seal stones in signet rings.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Black jasper intaglio portrait of a Roman ladyBlack jasper intaglio portrait of a Roman ladyBlack jasper intaglio portrait of a Roman ladyBlack jasper intaglio portrait of a Roman ladyBlack jasper intaglio portrait of a Roman lady

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.