Glass cup

Glass cup

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Translucent deep purple. Vertical rim with slightly beveled outward lip; vertical side to cylindrical body, then slanting in diagonally to concave bottom. On exterior, at bottom of vertical side a band of two horizontal raised lines, the upper one being thicker and more pronounced, another band of two raised lines around outer edge of diagonal underside, and a third band of two raised lines around edge of bottom. Intact; a few bubbles; dulling, pitting, and patches of creamy white iridescence. Rotary grinding marks on interior and exterior.


Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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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.