Glass plaque fragment

Glass plaque fragment

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Translucent pale blue and opaque mid blue. Square or rectangular, flat plaque; straight upper edge in mid blue, with projecting rough edge and grozed back in pale blue. Decoration in high relief: parts of two figures: at left, raised (proper left ?) arm bent upwards at elbow; at center, naked male figure leaning forward to left but with his head turned back in three-quarter view to right and proper left arm behind a large, unidentified object; behind arm of first figure in low relief a trident; below and in front of central figure, foliate sprays. Fragment with weathered broken edges, but one area with clean break at bottom left; small part of top edge remaining; dulling, pitting, whitish weathering, and faint iridescence. The plaque is not a true cameo, since the translucent blue background is completely covered with a thin layer of opaque light-blue glass. The scene, which involves a man and at least one other person, cannot now be identified.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Glass plaque fragmentGlass plaque fragmentGlass plaque fragmentGlass plaque fragmentGlass plaque fragment

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.