Glass mosaic fragment

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Body fragment. Translucent deep honey yellow, purple, deep turquoise green, opaque white and yellow. Shallow convex curving side. Composite pattern formed from polygonal sections of four canes: one in a yellow ground with a white spiral around a central purple rod; another in a yellow ground with a white spiral around a central turquoise green rod; a third in a turquoise green ground with a pattern of yellow rods around a central white rod, and the fourth in a turquoise green ground with a pattern of white rods around a central yellow spiral; and a strip comprising yellow, white, and purple in parallel straight bands. Polished exterior; pitting of surface bubbles on exterior; dulling, pitting, and creamy iridescent weathering on interior 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