Glass pyxis (box with lid)
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
Both lid and pyxis in opaque white, but heavily devitrified. Lid domed, tapering downward to fine horizontal rim with flat edge on underside; integral circular knob handle at top, with convex upper surface and concave pedestal below. Outsplayed, slightly inward-sloping rim to pyxis, with inner recessed shoulder on which flat edge of lid rests; low, cylindrical body, with vertical sides and outsplayed bottom edge; almost flat bottom, with a broad, concave, concentric band around the edge. On exterior of lid, three fine concentric raised lines, one around base of knob handle, one on lower part of side, and the third towards edge. On exterior of pyxis, molding band at top and bottom of side, and on bottom, a raised circle around inner edge of concave band and another around dot at center. Both lid and pyxis intact, but some chips in rim to lid; deep pitting, brilliant iridescence, and patches of thick black weathering on underside of lid and exterior of bottom of pyxis. Although this vessel is without an exact parallel, its elegant shape and fine carving strongly indicate that it is of Hellenistic manufacture, even though the use of opaque white glass is better attested among cast vessels of the early Roman glass industry. It is probably modeled on similar marble pyxides.
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.