263. Beaker

Condition

Mended; small part filled. Iridescent weathering on the interior.

Description

Fire-polished, flaring rim; conical body with flat bottom. Standing on an applied, conical base. Two applied coils; pinched to form a continuous frieze of seven ovals around the body. A fine thread is carelessly wound twice, 2 cm below the rim. An annular pontil mark (W. 1.4, Th. 0.4 cm) is visible at the center of the bottom.

Comments and Comparanda

In general this form of beaker probably derives from the beakers with applied decoration and pushed-in base that were in fashion in western Europe from the middle of the first century to the early second century CE (Isings 1957, pp. 47–48, form 33; Berger 1960, p. 47, plate 7; Cool and Price 1995, p. 71; Ravagnan 1994, n. 248, p. 131). True parallels are known from Hungary (Barkóczi 1988, p. 91, no. 128, plate XI, LXXV), dating to the third century CE. Examples with the lower ends of the decoration freely hanging are also known from Cologne (Fremersdorf 1959, pp. 71–72, plates 108, 109; Doppelfeld 1966, pp. 58–59, plate 132), dated to the third–fourth centuries CE. In addition, an unprovenanced parallel in the Corning Museum of Art has been published (Whitehouse 2001a, p. 137, no. 675).

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. 225, no. 658.

Exhibitions

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

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