Condition
Intact. Iridescence and some areas with incrustation. An elongated notch, probably a broken air bubble, on the interior near the rim at the area of maximum diameter, where letter Γ is.
Description
Oval plate with fire-polished rim; shallow, conical body; applied, band-shaped, conical base-ring.
Incised decoration on the exterior: the word ΥΓΕΙΑ hygeia (“health”) in capital Greek letters. The letters are formed with double parallel lines. The letters are arranged loosely around the plate, and each one of them is surrounded by four parallel slanting strokes. In the area in front of the Υ is a wheat stalk with an ear of five rows of kernels. On the interior of the bottom is a motif that can be understood as another wheat stalk.
Comments and Comparanda
This plate belongs to a quite diverse group of vessels, which include several different shapes—beakers, shallow bowls or dishes, globular flasks or bottles, and one jug—which were decorated with incised decoration and inscriptions with double-line lettering. Finds are dated between the third and fifth centuries CE, mostly to the fourth century CE. This group was widely distributed, and it has been proposed that the vessels were produced in a number of dispersed workshops, predominantly in the eastern Mediterranean, western Asia Minor, and Egypt, but also probably Cologne (Fremersdorf, Fritz. 1967. Die Römischen Gläser mit Schliff, Bemalung und Goldauflagen aus Köln. Die Denkmäler des römischen Köln 8. Cologne: Verlag der Löwe., pp. 105–108, plates 104–109; Harden, Donald Benjamin. 1967/8. “Late Roman Wheel-Inscribed Glasses with Double-Line Letters.” Kölner Jahrbuch für Vor- und Frühgeschichte 9: 43–55., pp. 43–55; Grose, David Frederick. 1985. “Roman Vessels with Double-Line Greek Inscription. A New Inventory.” Archaeological News 14: 23–28., pp. 23–28; Stern, Eva Marianne. 2001. Roman, Byzantine, and Early Medieval Glass, 10 BCE–700 CE: Ernesto Wolf Collection. Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz., pp. 137–138, 160–161; Lightfoot, Christopher S. 2013. “A Glass Vessel with Double-Line Lettering, Museum of Art, New York.” In Orhan Bingöl’e 67. Yaş Armağanı: A Festschrift for Orhan Bingöl on the Occasion of His 67th Birthday, ed. G. Kökdemir, 358–362. Ankara: Bilgin Press., pp. 358–362).
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., pp. 118, no. 520.
Lightfoot, Christopher S. 1990. “Some Types of Roman Cut-Glass Vessels Found in Turkey.” In Uluslararası Anadolu Cam Sanatı Sempozyumu, 26–27 Nisan 1988 / 1st International Anatolian Glass Symposium, April 26th–27th, 1988, 7–15. Istanbul: TŞCFAŞ Information and Documentation Center., app. no. 12.
Wight, Karol. 2011. Molten Color: Glassmaking in Antiquity. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum., pp. 77, 91, fig. 64.
Lightfoot, Christopher S. 2013. “A Glass Vessel with Double-Line Lettering, Museum of Art, New York.” In Orhan Bingöl’e 67. Yaş Armağanı: A Festschrift for Orhan Bingöl on the Occasion of His 67th Birthday, ed. G. Kökdemir, 358–362. Ankara: Bilgin Press., p. 357, no. 15.
Exhibitions
Molten Color: Glassmaking in Antiquity (Malibu, 2005–2006; 2007; 2009–2010)
Gläser der Antike: Sammlung Erwin Oppenländer (Hamburg and Cologne, 1974–1975)