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Catalogue

395. Flask

Accession Number 2003.338
Dimensions H. 11.0, Diam. rim 3.7, Diam. base 3.6 cm; Wt. 73.98 g
Date Probably ninth–tenth centuries CE
Production Area Eastern Mediterranean
Material Translucent greenish glass
Modeling Technique and Decoration Mold-blown
View in Collection

Condition

Intact; iridescent sheen on the exterior and dark accretion on the interior.

Description

Fire-polished, flaring rim; relatively wide, cylindrical neck; bulbous body; slightly concave bottom. The body is covered with a mold-blown honeycomb pattern in twelve rows of hexagonal cells.

Comments and Comparanda

The mold-blown honeycomb pattern appears in the third and fourth centuries CE on Syrian sprinklers like cat. 204. The tint and the overall quality of the glass of 2003.338, however, does not fit with that of Late Roman products; it rather seems closer to Islamic glassware. Mold-blown flasks with wide neck and globular body decorated with the honeycomb pattern, among other motifs, are also known from the Abbasid and Fatimid periods. See examples from Fustat (, p. 76, forms 36-f, 36-g) and Egypt (: for the decoration, see p. 64, no. 204; for the shape p. 65, no. 209).

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

, p. 176, no. 486.

Exhibitions

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