261. Beaker

Condition

Intact; large areas covered with whitish weathering.

Description

Thickened, fire-polished rim; flaring mouth; conical body with four vertical indentations on its lower part. It stands on a tall, pushed-in, conical base. An annular pontil mark (W. 2.1, Th. 0.1 cm) is visible on the underside.

Comments and Comparanda

This particular form of beaker is probably a descendant of the mid-imperial (second–third centuries) indented beakers without a base-ring known from eastern Mediterranean sites (Isings 1957, pp. 49–50, form 35; Cyprus: Vessberg 1956, beaker type IV.α.2., pp. 142–143, fig. 44:34; Lightfoot 2007, pp. 92–97, nos. 77–83; Thera: Dragendorff et al. 1903, p. 286 fig. 481:t–u). Published examples with pushed-in, conical base are known from Cologne (La Baume and Salomonson 1976, no. 161), Hungary (Barkóczi 1988, p. 87, no. 117, plate XI.LXXV), Türkiye (Akat, Fıratlı, and Kocabaş 1984, no. 291), and Myrina (Arveiller-Dulong and Nenna 2005, p. 450, no. 1264, plate 112), as well as two that are unprovenanced (Whitehouse 1997a, p. 113, no. 173; Israeli 2003, p. 163, no. 171). In addition, a flask from Syria, dated to the third–fourth centuries, is essentially a narrow and slender variant of this form (Kunina 1997, p. 333, no. 403).

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. 218, no. 634.

Exhibitions

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

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