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Catalogue

104. Fragment of a Mosaic Glass Vessel

Accession Number 83.AF.28.12
Dimensions L. 2.0, W. 3.1, est. Diam. base 5.0, Th. 0.3 cm; Wt. 2.06 g
Date Late first century BCE–early first century CE
Production Area Italy or possibly Egypt
Material Opaque red, yellow, and white and translucent purple glass
Modeling Technique and Decoration Made from a polychrome disk-shaped blank assembled from fused-together lengths and sections of round mosaic canes; slumped; rotary polished
View in Collection

Condition

Fragment.

Description

Flat fragment of what was probably the bottom of a wide bowl or plate. On the back side, a curved scar indicates the trail of the base-ring, which was probably a translucent purple rod that was removed when the fragment was repolished, probably in modern times. The vessel was made of florets of two types: (1) a central yellow rod surrounded by six yellow rods set in translucent purple, set in red; (2) a central rod comprising rolled white and transparent yellowish layers surrounded by seven red rods set in translucent purple, outlined by a white layer. The same motif appears on both sides of the vessel.

Comments and Comparanda

For the production technique, see comments on cat. 86. On the trade of small fragments of mosaic glass in the nineteenth century and on the different techniques and classes of mosaic glass present in the Getty collection, see comments on cat. 95.

Provenance

1983, Jiří K. Frel, 1923–2006, donated to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 1983

Bibliography

Unpublished

Exhibitions

None