Glass mosaic fragment

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Translucent honey yellow with greenish tinge, opaque white, yellow, and pale blue. Almost flat with rough underside. Meander pattern on honey yellow ground formed with layers in white, yellow and blue on upper surface; small, oval ground facet on upper surface. Polished exterior; pitting of surface bubbles and weathering of facet on upper side; dulling, pitting, and creamy weathering on underside.

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