Glass jug

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Translucent blue green, with same color handle and trail. Thick folded rim, flattened into broad flaring mouth; cylindrical neck expanding downwards; horizontal shoulder with overhanging rounded bulge below; cylindrical body with slightly concave vertical side; pushed-in bottom with central pontil scar; thick rod handle applied to shoulder, drawn out and up, then turned in, and trailed on to edge and underside of rim. On neck, single uneven trail wound round one and a half times horizontally. On body, close-set spiral ribs descending from left to right and narrow vertical ribs, creating a slanting notched pattern. Intact; blowing striations, pinprick and some larger bubbles, and black impurities in rim; slight dulling and pitting, with patches of weathering and iridescence on exterior, patches of encrustation, creamy brown weathering, and brilliant iridescence on interior. The patterning on the body is clearly intended to imitate basketry.

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