Glass double head flask

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Semi-translucent deep turquoise blue. Thick everted oval rim, folded over and in; uneven cylindrical neck with horizontal indents; body in the shape of a double head; oval base with flattened bottom, with raised ridge below one head. Mold seam runs from lower half of neck, down sides of heads, and across one side of bottom (?). On body, two heads, back to back, with different features, one with rounded face, chubby cheeks, and straps (?) below chin, the other face more oval, snub nose, straight lips, and possibly horns on forehead: on both, hair rendered as horizontal wavy lines swept back from sides of the faces, deep recessed pupils for eyes, and open mouth. Intact; pitting, dulling, and patchy iridescent weathering, with blackish weathering and encrustation 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.

Metropolitan Museum of Art