Condition
Partly preserved; restored; many cracks are clearly visible, and there are some areas of fill. The surface has some nicks and scratches, and large areas of devitrified white.
Description
Dark blue ground and white in the area of the belly, with yellow thread decoration. Fish-shaped container.
An unmarvered yellow thread is wound around the open mouth and another is applied along the top of the back. The eyes are outlined with a yellow thread. There are two small white projections on the underside, indicating the fish’s ventral fins. A flush, vertical yellow thread divides the head from the body and a parallel thread is preserved at the middle of the body; a third yellow thread forms large zigzags between them. On the upper part of the body there are small cavities, which are filled with a translucent yellow substance, possibly glass.
Comments and Comparanda
The vessel belongs to a well-known form of fish-shaped flasks that represent a Tilapia nilotica fish, common in the Nile and a standard decorative motif in ancient Egyptian art rendered in many media (Shaw, Ian, and Paul Nicholson. 1995. British Museum Dictionary of Ancient Egypt. London: British Museum., p. 100). These flasks seem to have held ointments, and since they cannot stand by themselves, they must have been supported by stands. Published examples have been unearthed in Malkata and Amarna (cf. Nolte, Birgit. 1968. Die Glasgefäße im alten Ägypten. Münchner ägyptologische Studien 14. Berlin: Hessling., pp. 70, 134–136, 176, form XI, plates XXVIII:59, 60; XXIX:1, 2). Other fish-shaped, core-formed Egyptian vessels are known from museum collections: a very colorful example in the British Museum, EA55193: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA55193 (Nolte, Birgit. 1968. Die Glasgefäße im alten Ägypten. Münchner ägyptologische Studien 14. Berlin: Hessling., p. 70, plate XXIX:2; Cooney, John Ducey. 1976. Catalogue of Egyptian Antiquities in the British Museum. Vol. 4: Glass. London: British Museum., p. 146, no. 1753, plate VII), and a monochrome one, EA63786: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA63786 (Cooney, John Ducey. 1976. Catalogue of Egyptian Antiquities in the British Museum. Vol. 4: Glass. London: British Museum., p. 146, no. 1754; Tait, Hugh, ed. 1991. Five Thousand Years of Glass. London: British Museum Press., p. 28, fig. 23); a single-colored fish in the Brooklyn Museum, 37.316E (https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/4014); also, a similar fish-shaped glass object, probably used as a palette, of the same period is in the Miho Museum (Ancient Glass / Kodai garasu. 2001. Shigaraki: Miho Museum., p. 29, 192, no. 21).
Provenance
By 1970–1988, 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
No author. 1970. “Recent Important Acquisitions: Made by Public and Private Collections in the United States and Abroad.” Journal of Glass Studies 12: 171–182., p. 171, no. 1, ill.
Saldern von, Axel, Birgit Nolte, Peter La Baume, and Thea Elisabeth Haevernick. 1974. Gläser der Antike. Sammlung Erwin Oppenländer. Mainz: von Zabern., p. 18, no. 3; p. 19, plate no. 3.
Dolez, Albane. 1988. Glass Animals: Three Thousand Five Hundred Years of Artistry and Design. New York: Abrams., p. 22.
Exhibitions
Molten Color: Glassmaking in Antiquity (Malibu, 2005–2006; 2007; 2009–2010)
Gläser der Antike: Sammlung Erwin Oppenländer (Hamburg and Cologne, 1974–1975)