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Catalogue

410. Flask

Accession Number 2003.466
Dimensions H. 8.1, Diam. rim 1.5, Diam. base 1.0 cm; Wt. 15.50 g
Date Ninth–twelfth centuries CE
Production Area Eastern Mediterranean
Material Translucent purple and opaque light blue-gray, green, yellow, and red glass
Modeling Technique and Decoration Free-blown; applied elements, marvered
View in Collection

Condition

Mended with a fill on the rim and the shoulder.

Description

Fire-polished rim; conical neck with large bulge at its base; elongated, conical body narrowing to a bulb-like bottom, which is flat, with a pontil scar (W. 0.5 cm).

Decorated with colorful, marvered chips of opaque glass applied on the vessel while it was still globular, which stretched when the vessel was inflated and tooled to its final dimensions.

Comments and Comparanda

On spearhead flasks such as this, see comments and comparanda cited in cat. 409, with various parallels dated from the seventh to the twelfth centuries.

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. 256, no. 748.

Exhibitions

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