Glass mosaic bead

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Translucent deep blue ground, appearing black; decoration in opaque white and red. Spherical; vertical hole with slightly recessed edge on one side and slightly protruding edge on the other. Pattern of dots, each comprising a central spot in red surrounded by circles in white and red, arranged in irregular horizontal rows; blue ground flecked with white, appearing as random leafy sprays, stars, and stripes; some distortion of dots near edges of hole, and one area on side where the pattern overlaps. Complete, except for small chips on one side; patches of creamy weathering, and weathering inside hole.

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