Condition
Intact. Silvery weathering and incrustation.
Description
Spacer-bead in the shape of a rectangular plaque. The ends are pierced by a transverse thread hole. The underside is glossy and concave; the upper side is decorated with a raised, stylized motif of two argonauts placed back-to-back. The ribbed egg cases, or shells, cover the upper central part of the plaque. Three of the tentacles of each animal are presented curved and extending to the ends of each edge of the plaque; at the center of the plaque are the eyes.
Comments and Comparanda
On Mycenaean beads, see cat. 526. For comparanda, see Haevernick, Thea Elisabeth. [1960] 1981. “Beitrage zur Geschichte des antiken Glases Ill: Mykenisches Glas.” In Beiträge zur Glasforschung: Die wichtigsten Aufsätze von 1938 bis 1981, ed. Axel von Saldern, 71–83. Mainz: von Zabern. [Originally published in Jahrbuch des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums 7 (1960): 36–50.], pp. 71–83; Nightingale, Georg. 2000. “Mycenaean Glass Beads: Jewellery and Design.” In Annales du 14e Congrès de l’Association Internationale pour l’Histoire du Verre, Italia/Venezia-Milano, 1998, 6–10. Lochem: AIHV., p. 7, type 1.16.
Provenance
By 1974–1988, Erwin Oppenländer, 1901–1988 (Waiblingen, Germany), by inheritance to his daughter, Ingrid Reisser, 1988; 1988–2004, Ingrid Reisser (Böblingen, Germany), sold to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 2004
Bibliography
Saldern von, Axel, Birgit Nolte, Peter La Baume, and Thea Elisabeth Haevernick. 1974. Gläser der Antike. Sammlung Erwin Oppenländer. Mainz: von Zabern., p. 91, no. 240.
Walton, M. S., A. Shortland, S. Kirk, and P. Degryse. 2009. “Evidence for the Trade of Mesopotamian and Egyptian Glass to Mycenaean Greece.” Journal of Archaeological Science 36, no. 7: 1496–1503..
Exhibitions
Gläser der Antike: Sammlung Erwin Oppenländer (Hamburg and Cologne, 1974–1975)