Glass handkerchief bowl

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Translucent blue green; trail in same color. Vertical, rounded, thickened rim; deep body with almost vertical side, then curving in sharply at bottom; low, tubular base ring, made by folding; flat bottom but with low internal kick at center and circular pontil mark. On body, single trail applied two-thirds down side and wound round and upwards in an irregular spiral six times to rim and then wound down again in a spiral twice, ending near where it began, reduced to faint rib by reheating on upper body; rim crumpled, with eight uneven projecting folds. Intact; a few large bubbles; small patches of soil encrustation, weathering, and iridescence. Vessels that have been deliberately worked to create a wavy rim and sides are extremely rare in Roman glassware. This bowl is perhaps the best example known to have survived.

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