Glass mosaic face bead

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Translucent grayish green and opaque red ground, with details in opaque white and red, and translucent deep purple, appearing black. Section of an oval mosaic composite bar; flat with rounded edges; hole horizontally through bead. Circular female face with variations on either side; hair rendered as alternating vertical black and white stripes on forehead and down one side of head; almond-shaped eyes, eyebrows, nose, and slit mouth with red lips; circular frame in purple. One tiny red bead wedged in hole on one side. Intact but large cracks or incisions in surface; dulling, pitting, and iridescent weathering.

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