Glass beaker signed by Neikais
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
Translucent light green. Outsplayed knocked-off rim with indent below; body with convex sides, tapering downwards; flat bottom with projecting rounded edge. Three-part mold with two vertical sections joined to cup-shaped bottom section, forming decoration in relief on sides; two horizontal ridges above central frieze containing two Greek inscriptions, each in two lines and divided vertically by a stylized palm frond; below frieze, three more horizontal ridges; near bottom on cup section of mold, two more horizontal ridges. Broken and repaired, with approximately one-third missing including most of bottom; blowing striations but few bubbles; dulling and brilliant iridescent weathering on exterior, and patches of creamy brown weathering and iridescence on interior. The inscriptions read "Neikais made (me/it)" on one side and "May the buyer be remembered" on the other. Only four other beakers signed by Neikais are known. One of these is a fragment excavated at Masada in the Jewish zealot stronghold that was besieged and finally captured by the Romans in A.D. 73/4. Neikais is a rarely found variant of the Greek name Nikias or Nikaios and could be used for women as well as men. It has therefore been suggested that Neikais should be identified as the earliest known female glassblower.
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.