Glass ‘Mercury’ bottle fragment

Glass ‘Mercury’ bottle fragment

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Translucent pale yellow green. Fragment of square bottle: square, thick-walled body, tapering downwards; slightly concave bottom. In relief on bottom, cloaked figure, facing three-quarters left, seated on a cushioned chair with proper right leg raised and resting on footstool; in each corner, a large capital letter: M A C N; below M, indented circle with small central boss. Broken around body (with weathered edges) and most of left edge of bottom also missing; pinprick bubbles; pitting and iridescent whitish weathering. This base fragment has an impression of the stamp that was carved into the mold. It depicts a draped and veiled figure seated on an armchair. Flanking the figure are the letters MACN, the meaning of which remains unclear.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Glass ‘Mercury’ bottle fragmentGlass ‘Mercury’ bottle fragmentGlass ‘Mercury’ bottle fragmentGlass ‘Mercury’ bottle fragmentGlass ‘Mercury’ bottle fragment

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.