Glass jug
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
Translucent turquoise green, with handle in uncertain color. Rim folded out, round, and in, with beveled edges; flaring mouth; cylindrical neck with irregular indents around top; convex sloping shoulder; cylindrical body with recessed central panel, then cup-shaped below; low circular base with rounded edge and flat bottom; a strap handle applied to shoulder in a large bifurcated pad, drawn up in an outward curving loop, and pressed onto top of neck and underside of rim, with projecting thumb rest above rim. Three mold seams run from base of neck, across shoulder, and down sides to top of prominent horizontal ridge; a separate cup-shaped section forms the lower body and base. Decoration in three registers: on shoulder, downturned tongues in raised outline, interspersed at bottom with pointed darts, with two horizontal raised ridges below; on body, central panel divided into three sections by a vertical thrysos-like staff or rod, with bud-like knobs on each end, floral sprays shoot out horizontally from each staff in symmetrical but different designs of ivy, vines, and laurel with berries, with a plain raised band below expanding outwards to prominent horizontal ridge; above the base, a frieze of twenty-four upturned tongues in raised outline, interspersed at top with pointed darts; on bottom, three raised concentric circles, decreasing in thickness towards center, and central small knob. Intact, except for three small holes and cracks in upper ridge below shoulder; pinprick and larger bubbles, blowing striations, and large black impurity streaked across bottom; pitting, dulling, iridescence, and patches of thick creamy weathering on handle, shoulder, and neck.
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.