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Catalogue

500. Fragment of a Mosaic Inlay with a Fish

Accession Number 83.AF.28.26
Dimensions L. 3.1, W. 1.8, Th. 0.4 cm; Wt. 3.12 g
Date Possibly first century BCE–first century CE; more probably third century CE
Production Area Egypt or Rome
Material Dark blue and opaque green, red, and white glass
Modeling Technique and Decoration Fused lengths and sections of mosaic canes with details fused on the surface
View in Collection

Condition

Fragment; part of one edge is preserved.

Description

Part of the representation of a fish. Rows of greenish and blue semicircular motifs, representing fish scales, outlined with a white straight band, probably the outline of the body, below which are obliquely arranged red and green sections on a dark blue background, probably a fin. On the back side, the motifs are clearly visible, undistorted.

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. On glass panels and vessels with mosaic fish motifs, see comments and parallels cited for cat. 496.

In the rendering of the scales, the colors of the fins, and even the white outline of the body, this vessel is connected directly with fragments in the Corning Museum of Glass (, p. 265, no. 794, plate 35; , p. 31, no. 9, 61.1.6: https://glasscollection.cmog.org/objects/6202) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (10.130.2692: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/570436; 26.7.1199: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/551563).

Provenance

1983, Jiří K. Frel, 1923–2006, donated to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 1983

Bibliography

Unpublished

Exhibitions

None