Glass square bottle

Glass square bottle

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Translucent blue green; handle in same color. Everted, horizontal rim, folded over and in, flattened on top surface, and with rounded inner lip to mouth; slanting, cylindrical neck; slightly pushed-in shoulder, with sloping rounded corners; square body, with flat, vertical sides; flat bottom, but convex on interior; broad, reeded handle attached in a long pad to edge of shoulder on one side, drawn up vertically, folded down and in, and trailed on to top of neck under rim. Mold mark on bottom comprising a large circle in relief, appearing as a wreath with tail extending towards one corner, enclosing two letters in relief: V L (in Latin) or A Γ (in Greek retrograde). Complete but many internal cracks; a few pinprick and larger bubbles; some soil encrustation, dulling, and faint iridescence.

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.