Glass mosaic bowl fragment

Glass mosaic bowl fragment

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Rim fragment. Translucent deep purple and opaque white. Vertical, squared-off rim; shallow convex curving side, tapering downward. Mosaic pattern formed from polygonal sections of a single cane in a purple ground with two concentric circles of white dots and a central white rod; on interior, projecting band below rim, slanting out and downward, cut back below horizontally. Polished exterior; pitting of surface bubbles on exterior; dulling, pitting, and creamy weathering on interior, rim, and edges.


Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Glass mosaic bowl fragmentGlass mosaic bowl fragmentGlass mosaic bowl fragmentGlass mosaic bowl fragmentGlass mosaic bowl fragment

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.