250. Cup

Condition

Fully preserved. Severely weathered, with iridescence and flaking. Some small chips are missing on the rim.

Description

Slightly flaring, cracked-off rim; deep hemispherical body that rests on a flattened bottom. Wide, horizontal wheel-cut grooves decorate the body: one under the rim, a pair at mid-height, and one more at one-third height.

Comments and Comparanda

Hemispherical bowls with slightly everted, unworked rim; hemispherical or even deeper body, flat base, and flat, occasionally slightly concave bottom are a very widely distributed form of glass vessel. They appear from the second century CE, and they were most widely distributed during the late third and fourth centuries, surviving into the fifth century (Isings 1957, pp. 113–114, 131–133, form 96; Goethert-Polaschek 1977, pp. 50–59, form 49a; Antonaras 2017, pp. 60–63, form 12). The majority are undecorated, but there are many examples bearing engraved/wheel-cut decoration (cats. 251–253) with geometrical and figural representations, and there are examples with applied decoration, consisting occasionally of blue threads and mostly of blue blobs (cats. 254–255).

Hemispherical bowls with incised decoration can be grouped into those with shallow horizontal bands, which are the simplest and most numerous group, and those with bands of ovular or rice grain–shaped strokes, which present a well-defined group both aesthetically and chronologically. Their decoration presents a simplified variant of the first-century vessels with multifaceted engraving, and they are dated to the third–fourth centuries.

Single deeper and wider grooves are found on vessels of the late first or early second century CE, which are ascribed to Italian workshops (Isings 1957, pp. 37–38, form 21; Whitehouse 2001a, p. 224, no. 378). Hemispherical bowls, some of them decorated with incised grooves, are dated to the third and fourth centuries CE (Isings 1957, pp. 114–116, form 96b; Antonaras 2017, p. 61, form 12.ii.a). Published examples of bowls decorated with simple incised bands are numerous (Cool and Price 1995, pp. 88–90, plate 5:16; Arveiller-Dulong and Arveiller 1985, p. 105, nos. 201–204; Goethert-Polaschek 1977, pp. 59–61, form 49b, nos. 222–232, figs. 20, 21, plates 38, 39; Follmann-Schulz 1988, pp. 103–105, nos. 376–378, 385, plates 43, 44; Fünfschilling 2015, pp. 119–121, 310, fig. 157, form AR 40; Weinberg and Stern 2009, pp. 50, 75, no. 98, fig. 6, plate 9, and pp. 92–96). Bowls of the third century CE with wheel-cut geometric decoration are also well known (Isings 1957, pp. 113–116, form 96; Antonaras 2009, pp. 117–124, form 12.2.a = Antonaras 2017, p. 61; Sennequier 1985, pp. 54–55, no. 26; Arveiller-Dulong and Arveiller 1985, pp. 106–107, nos. 205, 206; Fremersdorf 1967, pp. 68–70, 73, 90–93, plates 32–35, 40, 72, 74–78, 80; Sorokina 1967, pp. 72–73, 76, figs. 3:24–26, 5:12; Lightfoot 1993, pp. 90–95, plate 1; von Saldern 1980a, pp. 15–18, no. 64, plate 3; Harden 1936, p. 120, no. 317, plate 14). Zoned facet cutting was a widespread motif, and the decoration continued that of earlier, first- and second-century examples, which bore more densely and regularly arranged interlocking facets (Isings 1957, pp. 113–116, form 96; Davidson 1952, p. 95, no. 592, fig. 6). For third–fourth-century parallels, see Clairmont 1963, pp. 55–74, esp. 65–68; Sorokina 1978; Barkóczi 1986; Cool and Price 1995, pp. 76–78; Foy and Nenna 2003b, pp. 277–278; Antonaras 2009, pp. 117–124, form 12.2.a = Antonaras 2017, p. 61; Barkóczi 1988, pp. 77–78, nos. 39, 42; Paolucci 1997, pp. 119–120.

Several workshops have been identified on the basis of the distribution patterns and the shape of the cuts (circular, oval, and rice grain) and their combinations. Namely, they have been ascribed to four production centers at Cologne, in Pannonia, in Syria—possibly at Dura-Europos—and at Tanais on the Black Sea coast (Weinberg and Stern 2009, pp. 94–96, with further bibliography). Colorless glass was almost always used for faceting because it made this type of decoration more pronounced (cat. 251, cat. 256, possibly cat. 273 as well). The facets were usually left unpolished and a bit rough, and this difference between the smooth surface of the vessel and the darker areas of the facets created a striking appearance. This is visible, for example, on bowls cats. 251–252.

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. 185, no. 509.

Exhibitions

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