Glass cameo fragment

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Translucent cobalt blue with opaque white overlay. Body fragment of fairly straight-sided cup or bowl. In relief in white, head of a youthful male figure, perhaps Cupid, facing left but looking down, with proper right arm outstretched before him and left arm extended downward across his chest; a fine, almost translucent cloak flies up behind his head. Broken on all sides with cracks and chips on interior; dulling, slight pitting, and faint creamy weathering. Rotary grinding marks on interior.

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