Glass mosaic base fragment

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Solid base ring and thin-walled bottom fragment, probably from a carinated bowl. Translucent light blue appearing semi-opaque greyish green, deep purple appearing black, opaque white and red; base ring in green. Flat bottom, slanting inward; applied outsplayed base ring with edge ground flat. Composite mosaic pattern formed from polygonal sections of a single cane in a green ground surrounding a hollow band in a purple ground filled with a circle of white dots, and a central white rod within a red circle. Polished interior; pitting of surface bubbles on interior; dulling and creamy brown weathering on exterior, jagged edges, and all of base ring.

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