Glass aryballos (oil bottle)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Translucent deep blue green, but streaked in purple and appearing yellow green around lower body; handles and trail in same color. Everted, horizontal rim, folded round and in, flattened on upper surface and forming slight constriction to mouth; short, cylindrical neck, with horizontal tooled indent around base; broad, gently sloping shoulder; globular body; convex bottom; two dolphin handles applied to shoulder over trail decoration in large pads, one extending to base of neck, drawn up, round, and down, forming to ring holes, then trailed off back along top. Trail applied around bottom and wound round and up in a spiral 22 times, ending on outer part of shoulder (trail is thick and fire-rounded on lower body but becomes fine and in sharp relief above). Intact, except for small sections of trail on shoulder; few bubbles; dulling and slight pitting on exterior, patches of soil encrustation and iridescent weathering on interior. Squat green oil flask with two handles and glass threads around body.

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