Glass ribbed bowl

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Translucent deep honey brown. Bevelled rim with horizontal lip; shallow inward-curving neck; then raised ledge below which body curves in to concave bottom. On interior, lathe-cut concentric circles; one at center, two at outer edge of bottom, and one on inner edge of rim; on exterior, nineteen regularly-spaced prominent rounded ribs, slanting from right to left. Broken and repaired, with small areas of fill and internal cracks; rotary polishing marks on interior and on neck band of exterior; the rest of exterior is fire-polished; slight dulling and iridescence. This is a particularly fine example of early Roman glass tableware. The bright translucent color is typical of the ribbed bowls found in Italy and the western provinces, whereas those from the eastern half of the empire are usually made in more muted, naturally-colored glass.

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