Condition
Intact. Some incrustation and iridescence, mostly in the interior.
Description
Cut-off, uneven rim; convex neck; janiform body, in the shape of two males with youthful, clean-shaven faces, placed back-to-back. The faces have large, almond-shaped eyes; curved eyebrows; short straight noses; round cheeks; smiling mouths with full lips; round, small chins. Hair is rendered as long wavy curls. Over the forehead is a row of pronounced round curls, along with ivy berries, part of an ivy wreath. The heart-shaped ivy leaves are clearly rendered on the sides of the heads, particularly visible on one of the faces.
Not entirely flat bottom, meaning not all of it rests on the supporting surface. On the base is a central disk and a ring near the periphery, both recessed.
Comments and Comparanda
On head-shaped glass vessels, see comments on cat. 176. Cups are an underrepresented form among these vessels, which are usually finished as bottles and flasks, and almost all of the cups are single heads, unlike this vessel. Because of the ivy wreaths, the male faces can be associated with Dionysus or Antinous with features of Dionysus. A characteristic example of a head flask of Antinous as Dionysus is cat. 176, where several comparanda are cited.
Provenance
By 1978–1988, 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
No author. 1978. “Recent Important Acquisitions Made by Public and Private Collections in the United States and Abroad.” Journal of Glass Studies 20: 119–126., p. 119, no. 6.
Exhibitions
Molten Color: Glassmaking in Antiquity (Malibu, 2005–2006; 2007; 2009–2010)