Condition
Complete; a few small chips are broken from the rim. Areas with iridescence and gray crust.
Description
Cracked-off, vertical rim; conical mouth and neck, tapering toward the body, which is ovular with pinched, pointed end. The flask stands on a slightly conical bottom. No pontil scar.
Comments and Comparanda
A simplified version—with its simple, pinched bottom—of a relatively well-known form of askos (a wineskin in ancient Greek, that is, a container for wine made of animal skin) with an S-shaped ending for the bottom (Berger, Ludwig. 1960. Römische Gläser aus Vindonissa. Veröffentlichungen der Gesellschaft Pro Vindonissa IV. Basel: Birkhäuser., p. 84, no. 224, plates 15, 22; Hayes, John W. 1975. Roman and Pre-Roman Glass in the Royal Ontario Museum. Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum., p. 66, no. 197; von Saldern, Axel. 1974. Glassammlung Hentrich. Antike und Islam. Düsseldorf: Kunstmuseum., p. 157, no. 237; Ancient Glass: The Bomford Collection of Pre-Roman and Roman Glass on Loan to the City of Bristol Museum and Art Gallery. 1976. Bristol: Museum and Art Gallery., p. 22, no. 67; Stern, Eva Marianne. 2001. Roman, Byzantine, and Early Medieval Glass, 10 BCE–700 CE: Ernesto Wolf Collection. Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz., p. 113, no. 43; Massabò, Bruno, ed. 2001. Magiche trasparenze: I vetri dell’antica Albingaunum, exh. cat. Milan: Anthelios., pp. 118–119, no. 69; Israeli, Yael. 2003. Ancient Glass in the Israel Museum: The Eliahu Dobkin Collection and Other Gifts. Jerusalem: Israel Museum., p. 118, no. 109; Arveiller-Dulong, Véronique, and Marie-Dominique Nenna. 2005. Les verres antiques du Musée du Louvre 2: Vaisselle et contenants du Ier siècle au début du VIIe siècle après J.-C. Paris: Somogy., p. 197, no. 548). Exact parallels have been found in Pantikapaion on the Black Sea coast, dated to the second half of the first century CE, and are considered to be eastern Mediterranean products (Kunina, Nina. 1997. The Art Treasures of Russia: Ancient Glass in the Hermitage Collection. St. Petersburg: State Hermitage/ARS Publishers., p. 327, nos. 377–378, figs. 180–181).
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., p. 205, no. 577.
Exhibitions
Molten Color: Glassmaking in Antiquity (Malibu, 2005–2006; 2007; 2009–2010)
Gläser der Antike: Sammlung Erwin Oppenländer (Hamburg and Cologne, 1974–1975)