Glass hexagonal bottle

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Translucent cobalt blue Rim folded out, round, and in, then pressed into flaring mouth; cylindrical neck with concave band below rim; downward sloping shoulder; hexagonal body with vertical sides, then cup-shaped below; low base with rounded edge and flat but uneven bottom. Mold seams run from near top of neck, down sides, and meet off-center on bottom. Decoration in relief in three registers: on shoulder, six downturned rays or pointed petals; on body, six rectangular panels, each decorated at top with a triangular pediment, framed at sides with posts or slender columns, and bordered below by a plain band; in each panel, a different bird perched on or flying over a nest or rock; above the base, twenty-seven upturned tongues. Complete except for weathering holes in shoulder and top of body; pitting, severe weathering, and some patches of brilliant iridescence.

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