
Glass mosaic bowl fragment
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
Body fragment. Translucent blue, honey brown, and opaque white. Convex curving side. Short-strip or similar mosaic pattern formed from lengths of several canes set randomly or at right angles to one another: one in a blue ground with white streaks, another in a brown ground with white streaks, and a third in mixed colors appearing greyish green. Polished exterior; pitting of surface bubbles on exterior; dulling and creamy weathering on interior and 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.