222. Flask

Condition

Intact. One side presents iridescence and dark accretions. The surface is slightly pitted and discolored.

Description

In-folded, tubular rim; flaring mouth; short, cylindrical neck; flat shoulders; globular body; flat, slightly concave bottom. The body is covered with dip mold–blown ribs, slanting from right at the top to left toward the bottom.

Comments and Comparanda

Globular, free- and mold-blown flasks, usually with taller necks, are a very widespread form (Isings 1957, pp. 119–120, form 101), which appeared equally in the western European Roman provinces and the eastern Mediterranean from the late third century, and then remained in use throughout the fourth and up to the early fifth century. This particular ribbed example is dip mold–blown, that is, it was initially blown in a small, ribbed mold and then expanded to the final dimensions by further free-blowing and rotating. For a recent overview of examples from western Europe and the Balkans, dated predominantly to the fourth century CE, see Antonaras 2017, pp. 99–100, form 51b. For two very similar, purplish flasks—one with equally wide and short neck—in the Corning Museum of Glass, see Whitehouse 2001a, p. 122, no. 624, and another with a taller neck in the Yale University Art Gallery, Matheson 1980, p. 83, no. 224.

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

von Saldern et al. 1974, p. 178, no. 493.

Exhibitions

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