Glass appliqué with Medusa

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Colorless with pale blue green tinge. Circular disk with flat back, edge partially beveled, and convex upper surface. Head of a Gorgon in relief, portrayed with wings on top of her head, hair parted to either side, forming fringe to forehead, ears to sides of head, and tongue protruding downward. Intact, with weathered edges, but small chip behind proper left ear; dulling, iridescence, and some creamy 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