Glass cosmetic flask (kohl tube)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Uncertain color; handles in same glass. Tubular rim, folded out, over, and in; funnel-shaped mouth joining imperceptibly with slender cylindrical neck, which in turn joins with low, piriform body; splayed tubular foot, made by folding; deep kick in bottom with central pontil scar; two rods handles applied in large pads around neck, drawn out at an acute angle, then folded back in, and trailed off on lip of rim. Intact; pinprick bubbles, and blowing striations; severe weathering and pitting, with brilliant iridescence on exterior, whitish weathering and soil encrustation on interior.

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