Glass jar

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Translucent pale blue green; trails in same color. Thick rim folded out, over, and in, and pressed into broad, almost horizontal mouth; short, cylindrical neck, expanding downwards; almost horizontal shoulder, pushed in on one side; bulbous body; shallow kick in thick bottom with large irregular pontil pad at center. Fine trail wound round in an irregular spiral pattern, extending from bottom to neck; over this, another thick trail wound round from left to right in zigzag between outer edge of shoulder and rim, forming openwork collar. Complete, but three strands of zigzag trail missing, with weathered breaks; many pinprick bubbles; dulling and iridescent creamy white 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