Glass cameo fragment

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Translucent cobalt blue with opaque white overlay. Body fragment of fairly straight-sided large cup or beaker. In relief in white, lower part of two draped standing figures with bare feet, facing right; both with proper left leg slightly bent; intricate folds of clothing are carefully carved; below, a raised, slightly uneven, broad ground line; beneath, a second register of decoration, of which only the tips of two leafy sprays or branches are visible. Broken on all sides with weathered and iridescent edges; dulling, slight pitting, brilliant iridescence, and 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