Condition
Intact; partly encrusted; many pinprick bubbles.
Description
Fire-polished rim, smooth and vertical; hemispherical body; flat, slightly concave bottom. Body decorated with 21 vertical, slightly oblique ribs, unequal in size. Ribs begin 2.3 cm below the rim and range in size between 2.5 and 4 cm. In the interior, 0.5 cm below the rim, one horizontal groove, 0.2 cm wide.
Comments and Comparanda
The ribbed bowl is a form known from Hellenistic times (fourth–first centuries BCE) and is one of the most popular glass vessels in the Roman Empire and beyond its frontiers between the first century BCE and the first century CE. It has been quite convincingly proposed that they were made by pressing a mass of hot glass on a former mold placed on a rotating surface, enabling the craftsman to form slightly uneven ribs at relatively equal distances in an easy and swift way, although that often resulted in a mild obliquing of the ribs. The exterior of the rim is flattened or usually ground (Lierke, Rosemarie. 1993. “‘Aliud torno teritur’: Rippenschalen und die Spuren einer unbekannten Glastechnologie. Heißes Glas auf der Töpferscheibe.” Antike Welt 24, no. 3: 218–234., pp. 218–234; Lierke, Rosemarie. 2009. Die nicht-geblasenen antiken Glasgefäße / The Non-Blown Ancient Glass Vessels. Offenbach: Deutsche Glastechnische Gesellschaft., pp. 52–55; Stern, Eva Marianne, and Birgit Schlick–Nolte. 1994. Early Glass of the Ancient World, 1600 B.C.–A.D. 50: Ernesto Wolf Collection. Ostfildern: Gerd Hatje., pp. 75–79). On the interior, horizontal grooves are often incised under the rim, at mid-body, and on the bottom.
Ribbed bowls appear in three main shapes: shallow (Isings, Clasina. 1957. Roman Glass from Dated Finds. Groningen: Wolters., pp. 18–19, form 3a), deep (Isings, Clasina. 1957. Roman Glass from Dated Finds. Groningen: Wolters., pp. 19–20, form 3b), and deep with a tall, conical base-ring. In addition, the length of the ribs has been used as a typological criterion, with those bearing short ribs on the middle of their body clustered in another group (Isings, Clasina. 1957. Roman Glass from Dated Finds. Groningen: Wolters., pp. 20–21, form 3c). They were made in Italy and the eastern Mediterranean; in Italy vessels were made of deliberately colored dark blue and purple glass; of naturally colored blue, green, and amber glass; and of mosaic glass; in the eastern Mediterranean mostly naturally colored bluish-green and amber vessels were produced and used (Stern, Eva Marianne, and Birgit Schlick–Nolte. 1994. Early Glass of the Ancient World, 1600 B.C.–A.D. 50: Ernesto Wolf Collection. Ostfildern: Gerd Hatje., pp. 308–309).
See further Harden, Donald Benjamin. 1940–48. “Appendix 1. The Glass.” In Joan du Plat Taylor, “Roman Tombs at ‘Kambi,’ Vasa.” Report of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus 1940–48: 46–60., p. 49, fig. 20:b and c; Isings, Clasina. 1957. Roman Glass from Dated Finds. Groningen: Wolters., pp. 17–21, form 3b; Grose, David Frederick. 1989. Early Ancient Glass: Core-Formed, Rod-Formed, and Cast Vessels and Objects from the Late Bronze Age to the Early Roman Empire, 1600 B.C. to A.D. 50. New York: Hudson Hills Press., pp. 266–267, nos. 239–242; Stern, Eva Marianne, and Birgit Schlick–Nolte. 1994. Early Glass of the Ancient World, 1600 B.C.–A.D. 50: Ernesto Wolf Collection. Ostfildern: Gerd Hatje., pp. 294–295, no. 84; Ovadiah, Ruth. 1999. “A Burial Cave of the Hellenistic and Early Roman Periods at Hagosherim.” ‘Atiqot 38: 33–47 [Hebrew], 223–224 [English summary]., pp. 223–224, fig. 3:1; Israeli, Yael. 2003. Ancient Glass in the Israel Museum: The Eliahu Dobkin Collection and Other Gifts. Jerusalem: Israel Museum., p. 80, no. 68; Antonaras, Anastassios. 2012. Fire and Sand: Ancient Glass in the Princeton University Art Museum. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press., pp. 69–70, nos. 21–22; Antonaras, Anastassios. 2017. Glassware and Glassworking in Thessaloniki: First Century BC–Sixth Century AD. Oxford: Archaeopress., pp. 54–56, form 6a.
Provenance
1935, George Dupont Pratt, American, 1869–1935; 1935–1937, Estate of George Dupont Pratt, American, 1869–1935 [sold, Anderson Galleries, New York, January 15, 1937, lot 50]; 1940, Harry Leonard Simmons [sold, Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc., April 5, 1940, lot 108, through French and Co. to J. Paul Getty]; 1940–1976, J. Paul Getty, American, 1892–1976, upon his death, held in trust by the estate; 1976–1978, Estate of J. Paul Getty, American, 1892–1976, distributed to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 1978
Bibliography
Anderson Galleries. 1937. Paintings by Lawrence and Gainsborough . . . and Other Artists; Chinese, Japanese, Persian, and Indian Objects of Art, Arms and Armor, Ancient Glass, and Other Antiquities, Bronze Sculptures and Medals, Etchings and Drawings. Property of the Estate of the Late George D. Pratt. Public Sale, January 15–16, 1937, sale cat. New York: American Art Association, Anderson Galleries., lot 50, ill.
Paintings by Contemporary Artists: Brackman, Corbino, Philipp, Pushman, Lebduska, and Other Works by an Older Generation of Artists. Other Art Objects from the Collection of H. Leonard Simmons, New York, Sold by His Order: Public Sale, Paintings, April 4–5, 1940, sale cat. New York: Parke-Bernet Galleries., lot 108, ill.
Stothart, Herbert. 1965. A Handbook of the Sculpture in the J. Paul Getty Museum. Malibu: J. Paul Getty Museum., p. 20, no. F-15.
Exhibitions
None