Condition
Rim and upper neck repaired; weathering mostly along the white cane on the exterior.
Description
Out-turned and flattened rim; short, cylindrical neck, tapering toward the squat, piriform body; flat bottom. From base to rim, a spiral white trail with at least 14 revolutions from bottom to neck. Seven pinched vertical ribs around the body from bottom to neck.
Comments and Comparanda
Piriform flasks with spiraling thread around the body and pinched ribs are a well-known form in the first century CE (Isings, Clasina. 1957. Roman Glass from Dated Finds. Groningen: Wolters., pp. 40, form 26b). It has been proposed that they originate from the eastern Mediterranean and were copied in Italy (De Tommaso, Giandomenico. 1990. Ampullae vitreae: Contenitori in vetro di unguenti e sostanze aromatiche dell’Italia romana (I sec. a.C.–III sec. d.C.). Roma: Bretschneider., pp. 53–54, type 24). Published examples are from sites like Cologne (Fremersdorf, Fritz. 1961. Römisches geformtes Glas in Köln. Die Denkmäler des römischen Köln 6. Cologne: Verlag der Löwe., p. 40, plate 60); Trier (Goethert-Polaschek. Karin. 1977. Katalog der römischen Gläser des Rheinischen Landesmuseums Trier. Trierer Grabungen und Forschungen Band IX. Mainz am Rhein: Zabern., form 70c, pp. 114–115, nos. 618–619, plate 1:4d, 8:94d); Aquileia (Mandruzzato, Luciana, and Alessandra Marcante. 2007. Vetri antichi del Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Aquileia: Balsamari, olle e pissidi. Corpus delle Collezioni del Vetro in Friuli Venezia Giulia 3. Venice: Comitato Nazionale Italiano, AIHV., p. 77, no. 129, p. 36 color ill.); Marone (Facchini, Giuliana M. 2007. Ritrovamenti e diffusione dei vetri a mosaico nell’Italia settentrionale in età Romana. Milan: Edizioni Et., pp. 69–70, no. 114); Cyzicus (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. 276, no. 826); Dura-Europos (Clairmont, Christoph W. 1963. The Excavations at Dura-Europos Conducted by Yale University and the French Academy of Inscriptions and Letters. Final Report 4, Pt. 5. New Haven, CT: Dura-Europos Publications., p. 47, no. 179, plate 23); and museum collections, such as the Yale Art Gallery (Matheson, Susan B. 1980. Ancient Glass in the Yale University Art Gallery. New Haven, CT: Yale University Art Gallery., p. 27, nos. 72–73); Landesmuseum Württemberg, Stuttgart (Stern, Eva Marianne. 2001. Roman, Byzantine, and Early Medieval Glass, 10 BCE–700 CE: Ernesto Wolf Collection. Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz., p. 63, no. 7).
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. 134, no. 370.
Exhibitions
Molten Color: Glassmaking in Antiquity (Malibu, 2005–2006; 2007; 2009–2010)
Gläser der Antike: Sammlung Erwin Oppenländer (Hamburg and Cologne, 1974–1975)