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477. Floral Plaque Fragment

Accession Number 76.AF.70.12
Dimensions L. 3.0, W. 1.6, Th. 0.6 cm; Wt. 5.87 g
Date First century BCE–first century CE
Production Area Egypt or Italy
Material Translucent dark blue-green and opaque yellow, white, and red glass
Modeling Technique and Decoration Fusion
View in Collection

Condition

Fragment ground into a rectangular shape.

Description

Floral features in a translucent dark blue-green matrix. A cluster of eight grapes hanging from a yellow stem. Each grape consists of yellow, white, and red semicircular features. One large, round flower with a red rod at the center surrounded by four white petals set in a green background, rendering the sepals. This is set in light green, white, and yellow layers. A larger plant with yellow stalk ending in a large, round flower, quite probably identical to the one described above. From the stalk stem four lanceolate leaves with a central red nerve; one half of the leaf is rendered in green and the other in turquoise glass.

Comments and Comparanda

For the historical and technological evolution of glass inlays in Pharaonic Egypt and the Roman Empire, see comments on cats. 449 and 460.

Provenance

By 1976, Bruce McNall, donated to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 1976

Bibliography

Unpublished

Exhibitions

None