Condition
Intact, with some weathering, more on the interior; some pitting and scratches. Several large, elongated bubbles on the surface.
Description
In-folded, flaring rim; cylindrical neck, constricted at its bottom, forming a mild diaphragm; globular body; flat bottom. Two opposing red handles applied on the shoulder, drawn upward, and attached to the rim. Black striations along the red ground of the handles. Faint yellow spiraling in the green ground of the vessel. Made with florets—segments of mosaic canes— fused together and then free-blown. Each floret is made of green and yellow glass, probably a green matrix with a central yellow layer.
Comments and Comparanda
The technique of free-blowing with mosaic florets was used mainly for small vessels such as jars, cylindrical cups, jugs, and handled cups. The distribution of findspots indicates that they were circulating from Britain through northwestern Europe to the northern coast of the Black Sea. Quite probably they were produced from the late first century until the second half of the second century CE, and occasionally they appear in third-century contexts. The pattern, even when appearing as curved lines, was probably made of florets with circles around a central dot. (On the technique, see Stern, Eva Marianne. 2017. “Blown Mosaic Glass of the Roman Period: Technical Observations and Experiments.” In Annales du 20e Congrès de l’Association Internationale pour l’Histoire du Verre, Friboug-Romont, 7–11 septembre 2015, ed. Sofie Wolf and Ann de Pury-Gysel, 132–139. Rahden: Marie Leidorf., pp. 132–139; Stern, Eva Marianne, and Sylvia Fünfschilling. 2020. “Blown Mosaic Glass from Augusta Raurica (Switzerland).” Journal of Glass Studies 62: 41–68., pp. 41–68. The same technique made the handled cup cat. 235.)
Sprinklers, or dropper flasks, appear in archaeological contexts from the mid-third century CE onward in the Levantine region and are widespread during the fourth century CE. On sprinklers, see comments on cat. 344. There are some indications that sprinklers were produced earlier, at least from the late second century, on the basis of the “snake-thread” decoration they bore (Stern, Eva Marianne. 2001. Roman, Byzantine, and Early Medieval Glass, 10 BCE–700 CE: Ernesto Wolf Collection. Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz., p. 166, no. 62). For an opaque yellow, pear-shaped dropper flask dated to the third century, see Whitehouse, David B. 1997. Roman Glass in the Corning Museum of Glass, vol. 1. Corning, NY: Corning Museum of Glass., p. 200, no. 350. For an opaque yellow jar with two handles dated to the first century CE, see Whitehouse, David B. 1997. Roman Glass in the Corning Museum of Glass, vol. 1. Corning, NY: Corning Museum of Glass., p. 167, no. 292.
In conclusion, given that—as far as we currently know—the technique of free-blowing with mosaic florets ceases to be used in the second half of the second century CE, but sprinklers appear before the middle of the third century CE, probably even at the end of the second century CE, this vessel may be dated around the end of the second century CE.
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. 303; p. 110, plate no. 303.
Exhibitions
Molten Color: Glassmaking in Antiquity (Malibu, 2005–2006; 2007; 2009–2010)
Gläser der Antike: Sammlung Erwin Oppenländer (Hamburg and Cologne, 1974–1975)