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166/631
Catalogue

155. Flask

Accession Number 2003.267
Dimensions H. 14.2, Diam. rim 2.3, Diam. base 4.2 cm; Wt. 128.04 g
Date Early first century CE
Production Area Probably Italy
Material Translucent blue, purple, and amber-colored and opaque white glass
Modeling Technique and Decoration Made from a polychrome disk-shaped blank assembled from fused-together lengths and sections of round mosaic canes; slumped; blown
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Condition

Mended. Neck repaired with resin. Some areas of iridescence on the body. Internal surface partly covered with a light-colored material.

Description

Cylindrical neck; globular body; flat, slightly concave bottom. The vessel is made of three different types of composite canes which were fused together and blown: (1) cane comprised of horizontal sections of amber and white stripes; (2) cane comprised of three blue and four white vertical stripes; (3) cane comprised of three purple and four white vertical stripes. In total nine composite canes are used—cane no. 1 two times, cane no. 2 four times, and cane no. 3 three times—arranged in the following order: 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2. It seems that the intention of the glassworker was to arrange every type of cane three times, but either a shortage of material or a mistake altered one of the canes. In some areas different canes are superimposed and the different motifs are visible one over the other.

Comments and Comparanda

On slumped and blown vessels, see comments on cat. 148; , pp. 39–40, no. 34. For other slumped and blown polychrome vessels, see comparanda for cat. 152.

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. 128, no. 341.

Exhibitions

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

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