Glass mosaic fragment

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Rim fragment. Translucent purple, turquoise blue, opaque white, yellow, and brick red. Vertical rim with rounded edge; straight side tapering downward. Mosaic pattern formed from large polygonal sections of a single cane in a purple ground, outlined in yellow, with an inner ground of turquoise blue with two circles of white dots around a white ring and central red rod. Polished exterior; pitting of surface bubbles on exterior; dulling, pitting, and creamy brown weathering and iridescence on interior, edge of 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