Glass bead

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Translucent deep blue green; blobs or crumbs in opaque white, red, yellow, and grey blue. Flattened doughnut shape; off-center vertical hole, larger on one side than the other. Numerous blobs of varying sizes applied randomly over entire surface, most marvered but a few in relief. Intact, except for one chip in edge of hole; pitting of some blobs, dulling, and small patches of 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