Glass ornaments

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Set of fourteen matching ornaments, all made in same or very similar molds. Semi-translucent cobalt blue (12 examples) or light blue green (2 examples). Vertical rectangular panel; uneven flat back; straight sides and bottom edge; a large hole running horizontally through reel at top, four holes in recessed circle near bottom, and tiny hole in spikes along left edge on some examples. Molded decoration on front: a series of three reels, each with a truncated pyramidal spike projecting at left; three pairs of wavy lines in relief run vertically down reels, with other finer lines between spikes on left; below, square, flanked above and below by a horizontal row of dots, containing a plain recessed circle pierced holes. Two ornaments are intact, two are broken but complete, and the rest are fragmentary; dulling, pitting, and thick creamy brown weathering. The motif, evidently depicting locks of hair, suggests that these elements belonged to a diadem. The perforations at the top of each element would have allowed them to be strung together.

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