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Catalogue

456. Fragment of an Inlay with Papyrus and Lotus Flower

Accession Number 2004.29
Dimensions H. 2.2, W. 1.3 cm; Wt. 2.38 g
Date First century BCE–first century CE
Production Area Italy or Egypt
Material Opaque white, red, and yellow and translucent blue glass
Modeling Technique and Decoration Fusion
View in Collection

Condition

Fragment, broken all around.

Description

Decorative band with vertically arranged papyrus and lotus flowers. Only parts of both types of flowers appear on the preserved fragment: namely, a conical red papyrus flower, outlined in yellow, standing on a thick stem made of dark blue and yellow rods, and lower, a lotus flower with pointed, flaring white petals and a pointed, conical central bud made of red glass outlined in white. Two vertical, yellow tendrils extend over the petals, ending in spirals.

Comments and Comparanda

For the historical and technological evolution of glass inlays in Pharaonic Egypt and the Roman Empire, see comments on cat. 449.

For close parallels, see cat. 457.

Provenance

Pierre Mavrogordato, Greek, 1870–1948 (Berlin, Germany); by 1974–1988, Erwin Oppenländer, 1901–1988 (Waiblingen, Germany), by inheritance to his daughter, Ingrid Reisser, 1988; 1988–2004, Ingrid Reisser (Böblingen, Germany), sold to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 2004

Bibliography

, p. 126, no. 336c.

Exhibitions

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