Glass mosaic fragment

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Body fragment. Translucent cobalt blue, purple partially mixed with opaque white and appearing brick red, turquoise blue partially appearing green, opaque white and yellow. Convex curving side. Decorated with bands forming a pattern: yellow and green, blue, red, all with white lines and streaks. Chipped along two edges, exposing yellow layer between blue layers; exterior polished, with pitting of surface bubbles; dulling, pitting, and creamy iridescent weathering on interior 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