Glass mosaic fragment

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Body fragment. Translucent deep purple appearing black, turquoise blue, light blue, and opaque white. Shallow convex curving side. Meandering-strip mosaic pattern formed from large sections of one or more canes in alternating turquoise blue and purple stripes flanked by white lines; on interior, parts of a polygonal cane with a cluster of purple rods outlined in white with a central light blue rod. Polished exterior, with pitting of surface bubbles; dulling, pitting, and patches of iridescent weathering on interior, and some iridescent weathering on three edges, but one short edge unweathered.

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