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Catalogue

120. Mosaic Bowl

Accession Number 2003.251
Dimensions H. 4.0, Diam. rim 9.4, Diam. base 4.2 cm; Wt. 60.42 g
Date Late first century BCE–early first century CE
Production Area Italy or Egypt
Material Translucent amber-colored and purple and opaque light blue, white, green, and yellow glass
Modeling Technique and Decoration Made from a polychrome disk-shaped blank assembled from fused-together lengths and sections of round mosaic canes; slumped over a convex former mold; applied base and rim; rotary polished
View in Collection

Condition

Fully preserved.

Description

The bowl has a flaring lip; conical, cyma recta body; and flat bottom. It stands on a tall, circular base-ring formed by a single revolution of an applied coil of glass.

The vessel is made of: (1) lengths of blue and white, single-colored canes; (2) composite canes—a fine yellow flanked by two thick green canes, a fine white flanked by two thick purple canes; and (3) a few twisted canes—purple ground with a fine white thread, and a colorless ground with a fine yellow thread.

The coil of the base is ribbon mosaic comprising wavy but parallel layers of green, white, and yellow glass.

Comments and Comparanda

For the production technique, see and comments on cat. 86. On cast, angular vessels, see comments on cat. 89.

Provenance

By 1974–1988, Erwin Oppenländer, 1901–1988 (Waiblingen, Germany), by inheritance to his son, Gert Oppenländer, 1988; 1988–2003, Gert Oppenländer (Waiblingen, Germany), sold to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 2003

Bibliography

, p. 118, no. 320; p. 111, plate no. 320.

Exhibitions

Molten Color: Glassmaking in Antiquity (Malibu, 2005–2006; 2007; 2009–2010)

Pompeii and the Roman Villa: Art and Culture around the Bay of Naples (Los Angeles, 2009)

Gläser der Antike: Sammlung Erwin Oppenländer (Hamburg and Cologne, 1974–1975)