Glass mosaic fragment

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Body fragment. Translucent deep purple, appearing chocolate brown, and opaque yellow. Convex curving side. Mosaic pattern formed from sections of a single cane in purple ground with large irregular yellow streaks and swirls. Polished exterior and edges; pitting of surface bubbles on exterior; dulling and pitting on interior. Cut down into a tear-drop shape, perhaps in antiquity.

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