Glass mosaic carinated dish fragment

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Rim fragment. Translucent deep purple, light blue partially mixed with opaque yellow and appearing green, opaque white, yellow and brick red. Outsplayed, almost horizontal rim with rounded edge; carinated side, with two convex curves, the upper being deeply curved but narrow. Composite mosaic pattern formed from polygonal sections of three canes: one in a purple ground with an outer white circle and a red circle surrounding a central yellow rod; the second similar but with an outer circle of white dots, and the third in blue with a yellow spiral. Polished interior; pitting of surface bubbles on interior; thick iridescent weathering on exterior, rim, and jagged 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