Glass hemispherical mosaic bowl

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Translucent purple, translucent light blue, opaque white, and opaque yellow. Slightly uneven vertical rim; convex side, tapering downward; slightly concave bottom. Composite mosaic pattern formed from polygonal sections of three canes: the first in a purple ground with a white spiral and central blue circle; the second in a blue ground with a white spiral and central purple circle, and the third in a blue ground with a yellow spiral, appearing green and central purple circle; a purple cane wound spirally with two fine threads in white and yellow is attached as a rim. Broken and repaired, with one patch of fill; some pitting and dulling, iridescence, and weathering, especially on rim. Rotary grinding marks on interior. The red, blue, and green mosaic glass of this exquisite bowl was fused, placed over a mold, ground, and then polished. Hemispherical bowls were an especially popular form of mosaic glassware, perhaps because they show off the polychrome decoration to good effect.

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