Glass mosaic fragment

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Opaque streaky reddish brown. Circular, with beveled edge, and domed on one side; the other side flat, with three drill holes of different sizes in surface. Groove in side above circular edge; marbled mosaic pattern with irregular lines and streaks. Polished flat side; surface cracks and weathering and encrustation in drill holes; dulling, pitting, deep weathering, and iridescence on domed side and edge on circular and jagged edges. Probably part of a large disk or boss.

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