276. Fish-Shaped Flask

Condition

Fully preserved. Weathered and pitted and thus discolored and brownish in large areas.

Description

Fish-shaped flask. The vessel has in-folded, slightly flaring rim; cylindrical neck; and originally oval body and flat bottom. The vessel body was pressed and formed into the body of the fish, and the neck was bent to form the tail of the fish. The bottom was pinched into two protruding sections for lips, probably to identify the aquatic creature with a dolphin, with the long lips representing a dolphin’s rostrum. A trail of glass was wound four times around the upper part of the vessel neck. A coil of glass was applied along the upper flattened edge of the body and pinched in regular intervals, forming the dorsal fin. Along the wide sides of the body are four pinched ridges at equal distances. A vertically applied coil delineates the edge of the head. The eyes are applied blobs of glass. Toward the end of the body, on either side, one sizable blob of glass was applied and pinched to form a bent strap that might indicate some fictional anatomical feature or, more probably, serve as lugs or small handles to hang or handle the vessel.

Comments and Comparanda

The vessel is quite probably made of decolorized glass, which was much more valuable and expensive than ordinary greenish glass. In Roman times glass decolorized with manganese or antimony appears from the last third of the first century CE until the beginning of the fourth century, but it was most in fashion and had its highest distribution levels from the second quarter of the second to the mid-third century, which corresponds with the proposed production period of this flask. It was used mainly in western Europe and mostly for tableware, although bottles and unguentaria appear among them as well (Foy et al. 2019, vol. 1, pp. xiii–xvii; Stern 2020, pp. 769–774). This particular variant of fish-flask form (Foy et al. 2019, vol. 2. pp. 319–320, form IN 315 Var. c) has been recovered from the eastern Mediterranean region, where it was probably produced. Provenanced finds are reported from Syria (Abdul-Hak and Abdul-Hak 1951, p. 111, no. 5, plate L, fig. 2, from Tafas-Turbet el Ash’ari; Kunina 1997, p. 294, no. 201, E 1359); another was acquired in Lebanon (Whitehouse 2001a, pp. 199–200, no. 754 [with slightly different rim]; Corning Museum of Glass [55.1.94]); another is said to be from Palestine (Metropolitan Museum of Art 1915, p. 95, 15.43.168); while a few other examples do not have recorded find places (Whitehouse 2001a, pp. 199–200, no. 755; JGS 1969, p. 110, no. 6 = Silberg collection, Caracas; Oliver 1980, p. 98, no. 150, p. 109; Merrill 1989, pp. 20, 187, no. 11; Christie’s 1985, p. 43, lot 68).

Provenance

By 1969–1988, 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

JGS 1969, p. 110, no. 6, ill.

von Saldern et al. 1974, p. 238, no. 697.

Whitehouse 2001a, p. 200.

Wight 2011, pp. 63, 69, fig. 45.

Exhibitions

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

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