Glass oval bowl

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Translucent turquoise blue green. Plain rim with ground upper edge; convex curving side, tapering downwards to flat oval bottom; two integral horizontal handles at rim on either long side, carved out in the shape of stylized palmettes with outward curving ends and a central projecting bud with incised groove on upper surface. Cracked on bottom and lower side with one patch of fill; many pinprick bubbles; dulling, pitting, and iridescent weathering. The unusual shape and color of this bowl suggest that it is the product of the early Roman glass industry in Italy. Since it is said to have been found near Nazareth in Roman Palestine, it can be seen as a rare example of a glass export from Italy to the eastern provinces of the Empire.

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