Glass vessel in the shape of a basket

Glass vessel in the shape of a basket

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Translucent blue green; handle in same color. Rounded and slightly thickened rim; body: funnel-shaped profile on front and back, and conical at sides; tubular base ring, made by folding; kick in bottom with large circular pontil mark at center; handle applied on top of rim in a pad, drawn up vertically, turned in horizontally and then down vertically, forming square-sided loop, dropped onto top of rim and trailed off back along itself. Intact; few bubbles dulling, limy encrustation, creamy weathering, and iridescence. The vessel, initially made as a cylindrical bowl, had its sides deliberately pushed in at the top, leaving only openings at both ends, to make it into a handled pouring vessel.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Glass vessel in the shape of a basketGlass vessel in the shape of a basketGlass vessel in the shape of a basketGlass vessel in the shape of a basketGlass vessel in the shape of a basket

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.