Glass head-shaped flask

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Colorless. Cylindrical neck; body in the shape of a double head; oval base with flat bottom and rounded, slightly bulging edge. On body, two heads, back to back, with similar features: hair rendered as three rows of evenly-spaced knobs framing the faces to below chin level, arched brows, almond-shaped eyes, flat nose, small mouth with full lips, fat cheeks, and rounded chin. Rim and upper part of neck missing, cracks running down from neck across body; bubbles; deep pitting and iridescent weathering, and heavily encrusted on interior.

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