538. Bead

Condition

Fully preserved, with a bright surface and very few scratches and nicks.

Description

A spherical bead made of seven circular blue and seven or eight rectangular yellow slices of composite mosaic canes arranged in three rows and roughly five columns. These slices were fused together as a flat mass and were subsequently folded around a rod and pressed at the edges, forming a globular bead. The seam of this folding is still visible along the bead. Each circular floret contains an eight-petaled rosette. A central yellow rod is enclosed in a red layer, which is surrounded by eight white triangular petals fused in dark blue glass. Each square floret contains a checkerboard motif set in a layer of red glass. The checkerboard comprises six columns with six rows of square, tiny, alternately greenish and yellow tesserae.

Comments and Comparanda

See cat. 537.

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

von Saldern et al. 1974, p. 84, no. 235.

Exhibitions

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