Glass cup

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Opaque light blue. Plain unworked vertical rim, with everted, convex curving shoulder below; vertical side to cylindrical body; S-shaped undercurve; low base ring and slightly convex bottom. Three vertical mold seams run down sides through columns from rim to lower ridge, with a separate cup-shaped base section. On body, continuous central frieze bordered above and below by single prominent horizontal ridges, comprising three vertically-fluted columns with capitals and bases alternating with three disks decorated with radiating swirls; on bottom, base ring surrounding two fine concentric circles around edge and small dot in relief at center. Intact, but large weathered chip in rim; some pitting, dulling and iridescence, and much of surfaces covered in thick creamy brown 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.

Metropolitan Museum of Art