Condition
Fully preserved. A small, repaired break on the lip, and very few nicks and scratches. Large areas covered with weathering.
Description
In-folded, slightly everted rim; cylindrical neck with a horizontal constriction at the transition to the ovular body, which is standing on a folded, tubular base-ring; the bottom is slightly concave. An anomaly or a semi-annular fold on the undersurface could be interpreted as a pontil scar, yet the constriction at the bottom of the neck indicates that the rim was shaped while it was held with pincers/jacks from the neck.
Comparanda
Small-size flasks with ovular body are one of the most widely appearing forms during the first century CE (Vessberg, Olof. 1952. “Roman Glass in Cyprus.” Opuscula Archaeologica 7: 109–165., plate VII:27; Isings, Clasina. 1957. Roman Glass from Dated Finds. Groningen: Wolters., form 28a [variant]; Barag, Dan. 1970. “Glass Vessels of the Roman and Byzantine Periods in Palestine.” PhD diss. [in Hebrew], Hebrew University, Jerusalem., vol. 2, plate 44, type XVI:4; Stern, Eva Marianne. 1977. Ancient Glass at the Fondation Custodia (Collection Frits Lugt) Paris. Archaeologia Traiectina 12. Groningen: Wolfers-Noordhoff., pp. 38–41, no. 8; 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., p. 81, type 67; Antonaras, Anastassios. 2012. Fire and Sand: Ancient Glass in the Princeton University Art Museum. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press., p. 211, no. 314). Opaque red (or white, like cat. 335) unguentaria are known in the first century CE. The base-ring of this vessel is set apart, bringing it closer to the form of elongated flask known from Aquileia, 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., p. 81, type 66; 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. 100, no. 269) and eastern Mediterranean sites, dated to the second–third centuries CE (Vessberg, Olof. 1956. “Glass: Typology-Chronology.” In O. Vessberg and A. Westholm, The Swedish Cyprus Expedition IV.3: The Hellenistic and Roman Period in Cyprus, 128–175, 193–219. Stockholm: Swedish Cyprus Expedition., p. 151, plate 47:28; 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. 140, no. 743, plate XVI).
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. 112, no. 304.
Exhibitions
Gläser der Antike: Sammlung Erwin Oppenländer (Hamburg and Cologne, 1974–1975)