Glass mosaic fragment

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Body fragment. Translucent honey yellow, blue, and opaque white. Convex curving side. Spiral mosaic pattern formed from sections of a single cane in yellow ground with irregular white spiral threads and a second spiral composed of fine parallel blue threads set between white threads. Polished exterior; pitting of surface bubbles on exterior; dulling, iridescence, and patches of thick creamy weathering on exterior and two edges.

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