Condition
Intact.
Description
Horizontal rim; carinated body with two convex curves; outward-splayed base-ring, with rectangular cross section. On the interior, a fine groove just below the rim.
Comments and Comparanda
Cast, angular vessels are a very characteristic shape for the early Roman period class of glass finewares. Among them carinated, cast bowls are a quite widespread vessel shape, made of single-colored (this vessel, cats. 76–77) and mosaic opaque glass (cats. 90–92) in striking colors; slightly later, they appear in translucent glass (Isings, Clasina. 1957. Roman Glass from Dated Finds. Groningen: Wolters., form 2). They were probably produced in Italy and the eastern Mediterranean as well. The earlier examples have the constriction near the middle of the body, and the later near the rim, like the examples in the Getty collection, indicating that they were probably produced in the second quarter of the first century CE (Stern, Eva Marianne. 1979. “A Glass Bowl of Isings’ Form 2 from the Tomb of an Ethiopian Candace.” Oudheidkundige Mededelingen uit het Rijksmuseum van Oudheden te Leiden 58: 63–72., pp. 63–72, plate 6; 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. 65, 328–331, nos. 99–101). Finds include bowls from Meroë, Sudan, dated ca. 20 BCE (Stern, Eva Marianne. 1981. “Hellenistic Glass from Kush (Modern Sudan).” In Annales du 8e Congrès de l’Association Internationale pour l’Histoire du Verre, Londres-Liverpool, 18–25 septembre 1979, 35–59. Liège: Centre de Publication de l’AIHV., pp. 38, 55–56, nos. 17, 18, 18a, figs. 17, 18); Tanis, Nile Delta (Cooney, John Ducey. 1976. Catalogue of Egyptian Antiquities in the British Museum. Vol. 4: Glass. London: British Museum., pp. 43, 376, not ill.); Syria (Ritz, J. H. 1931. “Aussprache im Anschluss an die vorhergehenden Vorträge über die wissenschaftlichen Museen un ihre Aussgaben.” Mainzer Zeitschrift 26: 7–36., plate 6.2, no. O.37554); near Istanbul (La Baume, Peter. 1973. Glas der antiken Welt I: Köln, Römisch-Germanisches Museum der Stadt und archäologische Gesellschaft. Wissenschaftliche Kataloge des Römisch-Germanischen Museums 1. Cologne: Römisch-Germanisches Museum der Stadt und Archäologische Gesellschaft., no. C 6.4); Vindonissa, Switzerland, (Berger, Ludwig. 1960. Römische Gläser aus Vindonissa. Veröffentlichungen der Gesellschaft Pro Vindonissa IV. Basel: Birkhäuser., p. 28, no. 41, plate 17, no. 22); Magdalensberg, Austria, dated before 45 CE (Czurda-Ruth, Barbara. 1979. Die Römischen Gläser von Magdalensberg. Kärntner Museumsschriften 65; Archäologische Forschungen zu den Grabungen auf dem Magdalensberg 6. Klagenfurt: Landesmuseum für Kärnten., p. 71, plate 3, nos. 535–537); Haltern, Germany, dated before 9 CE (Kropatscheck, G., 1909. “Ausgrabungen bei Haltern: Die Fundstücke der Jahre 1905–1907 (mit Ausnahme der keramischen Funde).” Mitteilungen der Altertumskommission für Westfalen 5: 323–375., p. 371. fig. 16, no. 3; Van Lith, Sofia. 1977. “Römisches Glas aus Velsen.” Oudheidkundige Mededelingen uit het Rijksmuseum van Oudheden te Leiden 58: 1–62., p. 13, note 61). Further examples are kept in several museums in Israel (Israeli, Yael. 2003. Ancient Glass in the Israel Museum: The Eliahu Dobkin Collection and Other Gifts. Jerusalem: Israel Museum., pp. 84–85, nos. 79–80), the USA (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., p. 256, nos. 419–422; Antonaras, Anastassios. 2012. Fire and Sand: Ancient Glass in the Princeton University Art Museum. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press., p. 83, no. 70), Canada (Hayes, John W. 1975. Roman and Pre-Roman Glass in the Royal Ontario Museum. Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum., p. 21, no. 55), and Japan (Ancient Glass / Kodai garasu. 2001. Shigaraki: Miho Museum., p. 70, no. 78).
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
Saldern von, Axel, Birgit Nolte, Peter La Baume, and Thea Elisabeth Haevernick. 1974. Gläser der Antike. Sammlung Erwin Oppenländer. Mainz: von Zabern., p. 105, no. 281.
Wight, Karol. 2011. Molten Color: Glassmaking in Antiquity. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum., pp. 55, 58, fig. 34.
Exhibitions
Molten Color: Glassmaking in Antiquity (Malibu, 2005–2006; 2007; 2009–2010)
Pompeii and the Roman Villa: Art and Culture around the Bay of Naples (Los Angeles, 2009)
Gläser der Antike: Sammlung Erwin Oppenländer (Hamburg and Cologne, 1974–1975)