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Catalogue

81. Bowl

Accession Number 2003.475
Dimensions H. 5.7, Diam. rim 10.3, Diam. base 3.5 cm; Wt. 65.90 g
Date First century CE
Production Area Western Roman Empire, probably Italy
Material Translucent amber-colored and opaque white glass
Modeling Technique and Decoration Molded and ground
View in Collection

Condition

Intact. Some iridescence.

Description

Hemispherical bowl with vertical, ground rim. Relief rings start at 1.4 cm below the rim. Three pairs of double rings are separated by two equidistant rows of single rings, forming seven bands, 0.7 cm wide, in total. A small disk is at the center of the bottom. The rings and the small disk are made of the same amber-colored glass as the body, and they are only covered on the surface with a thin layer of white glass.

Comments and Comparanda

Both the interior and exterior present dense rows of parallel scratches, remains of grinding and polishing. It has been plausibly proposed that the two-colored vessel was cast, and then the outer layer was removed with wheel-cutting, creating the perfectly arranged and executed pattern of relief rings. The vessel is extremely rare, unexpectedly thin, if indeed molded. There is another similar, white bowl formerly in the Sangiorgi Collection, today at the Corning Museum of Glass (, p. 16, no. 2), and a third, fragmentary emerald-green bowl from Magdalensberg, Austria (, p. 20, no. 8, plate 1:8).

Provenance

By 1978–1988, 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

, p. 119, no. 4.

, pp. 55, 59, fig. 36.

Exhibitions

Molten Color: Glassmaking in Antiquity (Malibu, 2005–2006; 2007; 2009–2010)