Glass mosaic fragment

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Body fragment. Translucent purple, turquoise blue appearing deep blue green, opaque white, yellow, and brick red. Convex curving side, with one long edge trimmed into a straight line. Composite pattern formed from polygonal sections of three canes: one in a purple ground with a hollow white circle and a small, inner yellow circle around blue (?) ground with a central white rod; a second in a turquoise blue ground outlined in white and a circle of white dots around a red circle and central yellow rod, and the third in a turquoise blue ground with a circle of yellow dots around red and white circle and a central yellow rod. 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