503. Plaque Fragment with Floral Tendril Decorations

Condition

Fragment; the upper left corner of an originally rectangular plaque is preserved.

Description

On the fragment is relief decoration in the form of a two-tiered tendril with voluminous, modular stems, which end in a tripartite tip. Four-petaled flowers hanging from minuscule stems fill the areas between the branches of the tendril. The plaque is opaque light blue glass throughout its thickness. The rear of the plaque is flat but rough, dull, and pitted. It preserves two of the original edges at the upper and left sides, which are vertical and smooth.

Comments and Comparanda

In Roman times, in about the first century CE, molded glass inlay plaques, mainly rectangular or rounded in shape, appear in relatively large numbers. In general, Roman molded decorative plaques appear to be either single-colored, sometimes made throughout of one single color or having internally a core of a different color (white or translucent bluish), or they are cameos presenting the relief decoration usually in two—but less often in more—layers of different colors. They are formed by pressing glass in an open mold, or in the case of multilayered polychromic objects, by the pressing and fusion of layers of powdered glass, one for each layer of different color (Lierke 1999, pp. 78–80). Medusa heads (Harden et al. 1987, p. 30, no. 8; Spaer 2001, p. 254, nos. 613–614; Arveiller-Dulong and Nenna 2011, pp. 399–401, nos. 655–662) are common motifs, and human portraits, masks, and other figurative motifs appear too (Alfano 1997, p. 210, no. 221; Whitehouse 1997a, pp. 20–22, 26–27, nos. 7–12, 20–22; Spaer 2001, p. 254, no. 612; Arveiller-Dulong and Nenna 2011, pp. 401–403, nos. 663–672; Gerspach 1885, p. 43, fig. 16 = Victoria and Albert Museum, C.126-1911 https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O2354/panel-unknown/; Victoria and Albert Museum, 1072-1868 https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O127/panel/), as are vegetal motifs, like oak leaves and acorns (Whitehouse 1997a, pp. 22–23, nos. 13–14, 16; Miho Museum 2001, p. 71, no. 83–84 [A. Yoko]; Arveiller-Dulong and Nenna 2011, p. 403, nos. 673–676).

Identical to 2003.355 seem to be two pieces from old Italian collections (Arveiller-Dulong and Nenna 2011, p. 403, no. 674; Whitehouse 1997a, p. 22, no. 13); the second is fully preserved, providing information about the exact positioning of the fragment and the dimensions of the original plaque (H. 7.7, W. 4.5 cm). Regarding the rest of the motif, it becomes evident that it was even more diverse, with the two lower rows of the foliage bearing bell-shaped flowers, which might be the same as the four-petaled flowers on the top row, only presented in profile. In addition, the Oppenländer collection contained yet another fragment of a very similar plaque (von Saldern et al. 1974, p. 192, no. 525a).

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. 192, no. 525b.

Exhibitions

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