
Glass mosaic fragment
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
Rim fragment of shallow dish or lid. Translucent honey brown and opaque white. Rounded vertical rim; tapering side, turned in sharply at bottom. Marbled mosaic pattern formed from large sections of a single cane in brown ground with wavy white streaks. One chip in rim; polished exterior; pitting of surface bubbles on exterior; dulling and creamy iridescent weathering on exterior; similar weathering on 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.