Glass conical beaker or lamp

Glass conical beaker or lamp

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Colorless with pale green tinge; translucent cobalt blue blobs. Thick, uneven, cracked off rim, with slightly inverted lip; conical body with slightly concave side; small, rounded bottom with slight indentation. Three horizontal bands of cut decoration on body: immediately below rim, a single broad groove; a second similar groove also on upper body; and the third band comprising fine wheel-abraded lines on lower body. Between the second and third cut bands, a band of applied blobs in relief comprising two single large blobs alternating with two groups of six smaller blobs arranged in a downturned triangular pattern. Complete, except for a weathered chip in rim and two large cracks running from rim down body; a few bubbles, mainly in blobs; dulling, slight pitting, and patches limy encrustation, weathering, and iridescence. Conical vessels of this type have been excavated with traces of oil remaining and in circumstances indicating that they were used as lamps. The vessel would have hung in a metal support and would have been nearly filled with water. The oil and wick would have floated on top.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Glass conical beaker or lampGlass conical beaker or lampGlass conical beaker or lampGlass conical beaker or lampGlass conical beaker or lamp

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.