Glass mosaic bowl fragment

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Rim fragment. Translucent deep purple and opaque white. Outsplayed rim with thick, rounded edge; straight side tapering downward. Ribbon mosaic pattern formed from sections of a single cane in purple ground with irregular white lines, some in bands of parallel fine horizontal lines. Two chips in rim; polished interior; slight pitting of surface bubbles on interior; dulling and creamy iridescent weathering on exterior and jagged edges. Probably from a large ribbed bowl.

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