Glass mosaic fragment

Glass mosaic fragment

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Rim fragment. Translucent deep purple, blue, light blue appearing green, opaque white, yellow, and brick red. Outsplayed, horizontal rim with rounded edge, turned down at acute angle to vertical side, tapering slightly downward. Composite mosaic pattern formed from polygonal sections of four canes: one in a purple ground with a ring of white dots around a central yellow rod; a second in a purple ground with a circle of yellow dots around a central red rod; a third in a purple ground with a lattice design of light blue rods outlined in yellow around a central fine yellow spiral, and the fourth in a blue ground with indeterminate white threads. Chipped outer edge of rim; polished interior; pitting of surface bubbles on interior; dulling, pitting, and creamy brown weathering on exterior and edge of rim; jagged edges unweathered.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Glass mosaic fragmentGlass mosaic fragmentGlass mosaic fragmentGlass mosaic fragmentGlass mosaic fragment

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.