Glass aryballos (oil bottle)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Small, thick-walled oil bottle. Colorless with green tinge and purple streaks; same color handles. Rim folded out, over, and in, forming small, central mouth; short, concave neck; squat, globular body; thick bottom with kick and large pontil scar; two handles applied in large pads to upper body, each drawn up side and neck, and folded out and down over itself. Intact; dulling, slight pitting, and most of surfaces covered with iridescent weathering.

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