Glass krater (mixing bowl)
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
Translucent deep honey yellow. Outsplayed horizontal rim with slightly rounded edge; hemispherical body with convex curving sides; small, slightly convex bottom on interior; applied tall, outsplayed base with a solid, cylindrical stem with slightly concave profile, a deep concave bottom, and a thick vertical outer edge. On upper edge of rim, two broad concentric grooves; on interior, a single broad horizontal groove below rim; on exterior, three concentric grooves around bottom and applied base; on base, a single broad horizontal groove below stem, another around top of outer edge, and a third groove in vertical edge. Broken and repaired, with many small areas missing, especially in body; a few pinprick and larger bubbles; patches of thick creamy weathering and elsewhere some dulling and iridescence. Rotary grinding marks on interior and exterior of both body and base. One small jagged piece of same-colored glass is attached to the bottom of the base. This large footed bowl, possibly used for mixing wine, belongs to a small group of luxury glass vessels that remains problematic, for neither their date nor their place of manufacture have yet been precisely ascertained.
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.