Glass mosaic bowl fragment

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Translucent purple, turquoise blue mixed with opaque yellow appearing green, opaque white, yellow, brick red, and light blue. Convex curving side. Composite mosaic pattern formed from polygonal sections of four canes: one in a purple ground with a circle of yellow dots; a second in a purple ground outlined in white and with white spokes radiating from a red central rod; a third in a purple ground with a white circle and a central blue rod encircled by thin red and white rings; and a fourth in a blue ground with a yellow lattice pattern and a central red rod. Broken in two and repaired; polished exterior; pitting of surface bubbles and weathering of cracks on exterior; deep pitting and creamy brown iridescent weathering on interior and jagged edges.

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