502. Vessel Fragment with a Man Holding the Bridle of a Horse

Condition

Vessel fragment in fair condition. Surface is slightly pitted.

Description

Body fragment, slightly convex in horizontal cross section, of a cameo glass vessel. The outside is decorated in cameo technique. The decoration is opaque white and the background is opaque green. The fragment shows the upper body of a frontal young male figure, facing to the left, beardless, with short hair, whose chest is bare and who wears a cloak (chlamys) attached around his neck and thrown back over his shoulders. The folds of the edge of the chlamys wrap over his extended left arm. He wears wide, loose trousers, the braccae or ἀναξυρίδες worn by barbarians, forming a fold around his waist and covering the drawstring that kept it in place (Mau 1893). The figure is a barbarian ostler. His right arm is extended upward to grasp the bridle of a rearing horse. All that is preserved of the horse is the end of the muzzle, the chest, and the two front legs. Next to the extended left arm at the end of the preserved fragment is a raising of the ground, quite probably the beginning of another figure or motif.

The back side is mildly uneven and generally smooth, except for three curved, slanting ridges. Practically no pitting observable.

Comments and Comparanda

On cameo glass vessels, see comments on cat. 82. This fragment differs from the majority of glass cameos in its green lower layer, and no true parallels have been located.

Provenance

By 1974–1988, 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

von Saldern et al. 1974, p. 191, no. 522.

Exhibitions

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