Condition
Intact.
Description
Cut-off, rough, slightly uneven, flaring rim; deep hemispherical body; small, slightly concave bottom. No pontil mark is visible on the bottom. The body is covered with a mold-blown honeycomb pattern comprising four rows of cells.
Comments and Comparanda
Bowls featuring a honeycomb pattern on their walls are a relatively widespread form among dip mold–blown vessels, that is, vessels which were first blown in a small and shallow mold and then further expanded by free-blowing. They are found throughout the Roman Empire, and several regions have been proposed to be their production sites, including western parts of the empire, the Black Sea region, Syria, and Egypt (Hayes, John W. 1975. Roman and Pre-Roman Glass in the Royal Ontario Museum. Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum., p. 147; Barkóczi, László. 1971. “Plastisch verzierte Spätrömische Glasfunde aus Pannonien.” FolArch 22: 71–83., p. 83; Dusenbery, Εlsbeth. 1971. “Ancient Glass in the Collections of Wheaton College.” Journal of Glass Studies 13: 9–33., p. 16). Usually there is a band of vertical ribs below the rim, and below that is the web of hexagonal cells, which may be distorted due to the production technique. In addition, in some cases the honeycomb pattern is supplemented by concentric circles, applied blobs, or a rosette at the center of the bottom. Published examples include the following: Harden, Donald Benjamin. 1936. Roman Glass from Karanis Found by the University of Michigan Archaeological Expedition in Egypt, 1924–29. University of Michigan Studies, Humanistic Series, 41. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press., p. 165, no. 472, plate XVI; Isings, Clasina. 1957. Roman Glass from Dated Finds. Groningen: Wolters., p. 133, form 107a; Fremersdorf, Fritz. 1961. Römisches geformtes Glas in Köln. Die Denkmäler des römischen Köln 6. Cologne: Verlag der Löwe., pp. 57–58, plate 113; Barkóczi, László. 1971. “Plastisch verzierte Spätrömische Glasfunde aus Pannonien.” FolArch 22: 71–83., p. 72, figs. 2–10; Dusenbery, Εlsbeth. 1971. “Ancient Glass in the Collections of Wheaton College.” Journal of Glass Studies 13: 9–33., pp. 15–16, no. 15, fig. 12; Auth, Susan Handler. 1976. Ancient Glass at the Newark Museum from the Eugene Schaefer Collection of Antiquities. Newark, NJ: Newark Museum., p. 85; Goethert-Polaschek. Karin. 1977. Katalog der römischen Gläser des Rheinischen Landesmuseums Trier. Trierer Grabungen und Forschungen Band IX. Mainz am Rhein: Zabern., p. 62, form 50, no. 237; Weinberg, Gladys D. 1988. Excavations at Jalame: Site of a Glass Factory in Late Roman Palestine. Columbia: University of Missouri Press., pp. 79–80, fig. 4-38: 350; Foy, Danielle. 1995. “Le verre de la fin du IVe au VIIe siècle en France méditerranéenne. Premier essai de typo-chronologie.” In Le verre de l’Antiquité tardive et du haut Moyen Âge. Typologie-Chronologie-Diffusion: Huitième rencontre, Guiry-en-Vexin, 18–19 novembre 1993, ed. Danielle Foy, 187–242. Guiry-en-Vexin: Musée archéologique départemental du Val d’Oise., p. 200, form 13e, nos. 84–91, plate 10; Golofast, Larisa A. 2001. ”Steklo Rannevizantijskogo Hersonesa.” Materiay i po Arheologii, Istoriii Etnografii Tavrii 8: 97–260., pp. 126–127, drawings 81:11, 15–20; Whitehouse, David B. 2001. Roman Glass in the Corning Museum of Glass, vol. 2. Corning, NY: Corning Museum of Glass., pp. 110–113, nos. 606, 610; Lazar, Irena. 2003. Rimsko steklo Slovenije. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC., p. 121, form 3.10.3, fig. 35; Antonaras, Anastassios. 2017. Glassware and Glassworking in Thessaloniki: First Century BC–Sixth Century AD. Oxford: Archaeopress., p. 64, form 14 (wherein further parallels are cited).
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
Saldern von, Axel, Birgit Nolte, Peter La Baume, and Thea Elisabeth Haevernick. 1974. Gläser der Antike. Sammlung Erwin Oppenländer. Mainz: von Zabern., p. 176, no. 487.
Exhibitions
Molten Color: Glassmaking in Antiquity (Malibu, 2005–2006; 2007; 2009–2010)
Gläser der Antike: Sammlung Erwin Oppenländer (Hamburg and Cologne, 1974–1975)