407. Flask

Condition

Composed of two different vessels. The rim and neck to the transition to the body is one vessel. The lower end of this part is ground to fit with the crack on the shoulder of the lower vessel. This lower vessel is mended and covered by corrosion and iridescence. The only area where the original cut surface is preserved is on the opposite side of the “handle-lump.”

Description

Upper part: Fire-polished, flaring rim; long, cylindrical neck, decorated on the upper part with a fine thread, spirally wound five times, and further below that a wavy coil, a fine thread wound once, and a thick, wavy coil that forms three plastic protuberances, one of which is genuine (the other two are modern plaster additions—and one of those is only partly preserved).

Lower part: Globular, bicolor body. The upper part is made of dark blue glass and is smooth. The lower part of the body is made of colorless glass and stands on a pad base. Around the colorless part of the body are five oval, pincered ring-and-dot motifs. At the transition to the blue shoulder part, a colorless lump is preserved, probably the base of a handle.

Comments and Comparanda

The flask was made of two gathers of glass that were blown separately; the lower one was decorated, and then they were joined by fusing. The decoration was formed on the still-hot vessel with one or more tools shaped like pincers or tongs. The jaws of the tool used for this flask bore intaglio decoration, which, when the tongs were applied to the glass and squeezed, produced ornament that is in relief. Most vessels have a single motif repeated several times, and the repertoire includes representations of animals, inscriptions, rosettes, ring-and-dot motifs (like 78.AK.30), and other geometric features. Vessels decorated with pincered motifs are found in various regions and sites in Egypt, Syria, Iraq, the Caucasus, Iran, and China (Carboni 2001, pp. 102–103; Whitehouse 2014, p. 129; Scanlon and Pinder-Wilson 2001, pp. 80–82, type 38a–j; Kröger 1995, pp. 95–99, nos. 135–140; An 1991, p. 124, fig. 9; von Saldern 1980b, p. 177, no. 180). Pincered decoration is usually dated to the ninth and tenth centuries.

The piece for the neck belongs to a much more modern vessel, probably dated to the eighteenth or nineteenth century, possibly from Persia or the Arab world (cf. Goldstein et al. 2005, pp. 303–307, nos. 324–329).

Provenance

1933, Emile Tabbagh, 1879–1933; 1933–1936, Estate of Emile Tabbagh, 1879–1933 [sold, Anderson Galleries, New York, January 3, 1936, lot 13]; 1940, Harry Leonard Simmons [sold, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, April 5, 1940, lot 99, through French and Co. to J. Paul Getty.]; 1940–1976, J. Paul Getty, American, 1892–1976, upon his death, held in trust by the estate; 1976–1978, Estate of J. Paul Getty, American, 1892–1976, distributed to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 1978

Bibliography

Anderson Galleries, New York. Sale cat., Emile Tabbagh collection, January 3–4, 1936, lot 13, ill.

Parke-Bernet Galleries 1940, lot 99.

Frel 1981, p. 69 n. 4 (where cited as 78.AJ.30).

Exhibitions

None