Glass beaker with inscription

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Translucent pale yellow green. Outsplayed unworked rim; cylindrical body with vertical sides; flat bottom. Two vertical mold seams run down sides from rim to edge of bottom through palm fronds, with a separate disk-shaped base section. On body, large central frieze bordered above and below by two horizontal ridges, and divided vertically by two tapering palm fronds, extending from top of band around bottom of body to rim: the frieze contains an inscription in Greek capitals that reads ΚΑTAIΧAIPЄ // KAI ЄΥΦPAINOY, with wreaths above, pointing in opposite directions; around bottom of side, continuous horizontal wreath with chevrons facing to right. The inscription translates as "Rejoice and be merry!" On bottom, projecting rounded ring and central dot. Broken and repaired, one small hole in side and larger holes in lower body and around edge of bottom; pinprick bubbles; dulling, slight pitting, creamy weathering, and patches of brilliant 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