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Catalogue

211. Amphoriskos

Accession Number 2003.305
Dimensions H. 10.5, Diam. rim 2.7, max. Diam. 4.5 cm; Wt. 35.20 g
Date Second half of the first century CE
Production Area Eastern Mediterranean
Material Translucent green and blue glass
Modeling Technique and Decoration Body mold-blown in a two-part mold of two vertical sections; edges of mold carefully aligned; the seam is visible along the middle of each side (90° away from the handles)
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Condition

Severely weathered; reassembled, with large fills on the body.

Description

In-folded, everted rim; short, cylindrical neck; elongated, ovoid body; pointed bottom. Two blue coil handles attached on shoulder and upper part of neck. Body covered with 23 horizontal, mold-blown ridges from neck to base.

Comments and Comparanda

Several mold-blown miniature glass amphorae exist, all of them dated to the second half of the first century CE. They render three different forms of contemporaneous clay amphorae. The first variant, to which this vessel belongs, has a tall slender body; the second, to which cat. 210 belongs, has an ovoid body that turns abruptly inward to a pointed end; and the third has a conical body with a circular flat base. There are several variations of these three basic forms, indicating that this popular shape was produced in a number of workshops in the eastern Mediterranean and possibly in the west as well (, pp. 157–159, nos. 64–67). For further parallels, see cat. 210.

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

, pp. 147, 156, no. 424.

Exhibitions

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

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