Condition
Largely complete. Surface is covered with iridescence. Large fragments are missing around the edges above the head and under the chin.
Description
Roughly circular appliqué medallion in the form of a lion’s head. Rich mane surrounds the head on all sides; aquiline snout, pronounced eyebrows, and wide-open mouth.
On the back side is preserved the part of the vessel body (Th. 0.1 cm) to which this was attached.
These medallions were mostly placed at the base of a jug handle, or around the body of a bowl.
Comments and Comparanda
See comments on cat. 504. In addition see Edgar, Campbell Cowan. 1905. Catalogue général des antiquités égyptiennes du Musée du Caire. Nos. 32401–32800. Graeco-Egyptian Glass. Cairo: Institut français d’archéologie orientale., p. 78, no. 32.768; Davidson, G. R. 1952. The Minor Objects. Corinth XII. Princeton, NJ: American School of Classical Studies at Athens., plate 54, no. 618; Kunina, Nina. 1997. The Art Treasures of Russia: Ancient Glass in the Hermitage Collection. St. Petersburg: State Hermitage/ARS Publishers., p. 208, no. 175a, b; Hayes, John W. 1975. Roman and Pre-Roman Glass in the Royal Ontario Museum. Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum., p. 144, nos. 605, 606; Whitehouse, David B. 2001. “Cut and Engraved Glass.” In Glass of the Sultans, exh. cat., ed. Stefano Carboni and David Whitehouse, 155–198. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art., pp. 233–234, nos. 814–816; Antonaras, Anastassios. 2012. Fire and Sand: Ancient Glass in the Princeton University Art Museum. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press., p. 282, no. 462.
Provenance
Pierre Mavrogordato, Greek, 1870–1948 (Berlin, Germany); 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
Saldern von, Axel, Birgit Nolte, Peter La Baume, and Thea Elisabeth Haevernick. 1974. Gläser der Antike. Sammlung Erwin Oppenländer. Mainz: von Zabern., p. 194, no. 532.
Exhibitions
Gläser der Antike: Sammlung Erwin Oppenländer (Hamburg and Cologne, 1974–1975)