Mosaic glass inlay

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Opaque streaky red ground; decoration in opaque white, yellow, and red, partly translucent purple appearing black, and colorless glass. Thin, rectangular plaque, cut from a mosaic composite bar, with flat front, uneven back, and vertical straight sides, with one slightly rounded corner; design extends uniformly through the thickness of the plaque. Proper right side of mask of silenus or old servant with yellow face; features delineated in purple, with red eye and lips, and purple mouth; red and white stripes on cheek; hair, beard, and moustache in rows of white and colorless glass. Broken at top, with upper part of head missing; glossy surface to back; front and edges ground and polished; dulling and pitting of surface bubbles.

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