Glass pyxis (box with lid)

Glass pyxis (box with lid)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Both lid and pyxis in translucent deep honey brown. Lid slightly domed with rounded edge to downward flaring sides; plain, rounded rim. Slightly inverted, rounded rim to pyxis, with recessed band below; vertical sides, tapering slightly downwards, with rounded edge to flat bottom; slight tooling indent on bottom. On exterior of lid, two fine concentric grooves, and very small circle at center. On exterior of pyxis, raised ledge at base of band below rim, and halfway down side another raised horizontal line flanked by a groove above and below. Intact; some pinprick and large bubbles, with striations; dulling, pitting, and slight iridescent weathering. Rotary grinding marks on interior of lid and on exterior and interior of pyxis. The lid fits but does not sit on the raised ledge below the rim of the pyxis.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Glass pyxis (box with lid)Glass pyxis (box with lid)Glass pyxis (box with lid)Glass pyxis (box with lid)Glass pyxis (box with lid)

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.