Glass skyphos (drinking cup)

Glass skyphos (drinking cup)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Colorless. Beveled, slightly inverted rim, with slight lip above tops of handles; convex curving side tapering downward; splayed base ring with flat bottom edge; flat bottom; two ring handles applied to sides of body, carved out from blanks surrounded by irregular raised squared-off areas, with flat thumb-rests above rings and projecting wings above and below. Body broken and repaired, with many internal strain cracks, one small area of fill in side, and small chips in rim, and both handles restored, surviving only as the ends of the rings projecting from the body; pinprick and larger bubbles; some dulling, patches of iridescent weathering, and areas of limy encrustation. Rotary grinding marks on interior and exterior.


Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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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.