Miniature amber amphora (jar)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

For the Romans, amber was a costly and therefore luxurious material. It seems that it was especially prized by women, who collected rings, trinkets, and small perfume bottles made of amber. Many such objects were produced at Aquileia in Northern Italy, which may be where this miniature amphora was carved. The amber trade was stimulated by the expedition of a Roman eques (knight) to the Baltic coast in the reign of the Emperor Nero (A.D. 54–68).

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