Condition
Fully preserved. Small part of one edge is missing. There is some discoloration around the edges.
Description
A rectangular mosaic plaque fragment decorated with a pattern of four-petaled flowers set in opaque red glass, with white petals, outlined in turquoise, around yellow centers. Each tessera consists of two of the petals and the yellow central dot. The ends of the tesserae of each row were placed between the lower row’s tesserae, thus forming in a loose manner the pattern of the flower.
The decoration runs through the entire plaque and is clear on the back side too.
One of the sides is mildly curved, apparently meant to be the edge of the original band or decorative motif. The other three sides are vertical, with the lowest 0.2 cm on the bottom edge beveled, which would have facilitated the juxtaposition of similar rectangular plaques.
The quatrefoil motif was used for millennia in ancient Egypt in connection with the goddesses Isis and Nephthys, represented also on mummy-shaped divine figures and on beaded mummy nets. In the Ptolemaic period, it was translated into mosaic glass. It appears that originally it represented stars and not flowers. In only a few cases, like in the example from JPGM, do the quatrefoils have a yellow central rod, probably recalling the central gold nail of ancient cloisonné work (Stern, Eva Marianne, and Birgit Schlick–Nolte. 1994. Early Glass of the Ancient World, 1600 B.C.–A.D. 50: Ernesto Wolf Collection. Ostfildern: Gerd Hatje., p. 400, no. 143).
This piece was probably part of a garment of a figurine, given the motif and the curved side, as in Arveiller-Dulong, Véronique, and Marie-Dominique Nenna. 2011. Les verres antiques du Musée du Louvre 3: Parure, instruments et éléments d’incrustation. Paris: Somogy Editions., p. 380, no. 618.
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 Goldstein, Sidney M. 1979. Pre-Roman and Early Roman Glass in the Corning Museum of Glass. Corning, NY: Corning Museum of Glas., pp. 218–219, nos. 627, 630; Müller, Hans Wolfgang. 1964. Ägyptische Kunstwerke: Kleinfunde und Glas in der Sammlung E. und M. Kofler-Truniger, Luzern. Berlin: Hessling., p. 144, no. A 199a (formerly Kofler-Truniger Collection). For the same motif without the central yellow rod: Stern, Eva Marianne, and Birgit Schlick–Nolte. 1994. Early Glass of the Ancient World, 1600 B.C.–A.D. 50: Ernesto Wolf Collection. Ostfildern: Gerd Hatje., pp. 400–401, no. 143; Platz-Horster, Gertrud. 2002. “Mosaic Glass Inlays in the Antikensammlung.” In Hyalos Vitrum Glass: History, Technology, and Conservation of Glass and Vitreous Materials in the Hellenic World. First International Conference, ed. George Kordas, 147–150. Athens: Glassnet., pp. 149–150, fig. 6; Arveiller-Dulong, Véronique, and Marie-Dominique Nenna. 2011. Les verres antiques du Musée du Louvre 3: Parure, instruments et éléments d’incrustation. Paris: Somogy Editions., p. 380, no. 617; Antonaras, Anastassios. 2012. Fire and Sand: Ancient Glass in the Princeton University Art Museum. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press., p. 291, no. 489.
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
Saldern von, Axel, Birgit Nolte, Peter La Baume, and Thea Elisabeth Haevernick. 1974. Gläser der Antike. Sammlung Erwin Oppenländer. Mainz: von Zabern., p. 132, no. 361.
Exhibitions
Gläser der Antike: Sammlung Erwin Oppenländer (Hamburg and Cologne, 1974–1975)