Glass cameo with cupid (Eros)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Translucent purple and opaque white, with colorless backing. Fragmentary oval medallion in two layers, comprising a purple ground and white overlay with relief decoration. Chubby winged cupid, sitting frontally with proper left arm outstretched downward, and right arm around object or figure to his right. Broken to left and below; pitting, dulling, and some weathering. The colorless backing appears modern, attached with adhesive; all edges ground smooth.

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