Glass beaker or lamp

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Translucent yellow brown. Outsplayed horizontal rim, with uneven, cracked-off vertical lip; straight side tapering downwards, then slightly outsplayed at base; small circular bottom with central indent. Band of fifty-eight vertical ribs around top of body above irregular honeycomb pattern that becomes elongated and fainter towards base. Intact, except for one weathered chip in rim; some pinprick and a few white, gritty inclusions; dulling, brown enamel-like weathering, and faint iridescence.

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