
Glass beaker (carchesium)
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
Translucent very dark green, appearing black. Everted, rounded rim; concave curving side to cylindrical body, then splaying out to rounded carination, below which it has a low convex undercurve; applied base ring; flat bottom, with central kick and pontil scar. Intact; pinprick and a few larger bubbles; slight dulling and faint weathering.
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.