
Glass ribbed bowl
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
Translucent blue green. Vertical rim with angular top edge; plain, vertical band around top of sides, then bulging outward before curving in sharply to slightly concave bottom. On interior, three fine concentric grooves around outer edge of bottom and small, broader circle at center; on exterior, seventy-six vertical or slightly slanting ribs of slightly varying length, width, and thickness, with tops ground off, arranged around bulging middle section of body. Intact; pinprick bubbles; pitting, dulling, and iridescence with small patches of creamy weathering. Rotary grinding marks on plain band around top of sides and on interior.
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.