Lot 29
Roman, Imperial Period, ca. 1st to 2nd century CE. A fabulous free-blown glass vessel of an elegant form and a deep aubergine color of inky violet, almost black hues. The piriform body has a slender tubular neck that gently flares to a folded rim with trailed twin handles joining rim to shoulder. All sits upon a concave base marked by a pontil scar. Lovely traces of silvery and rainbow-hued iridescence complement the vessel's aubergine hue. A fantastic example from the height of the Roman Empire! Size: 1.9" Diameter x 3.1" H (4.8 cm x 7.9 cm)
The following is a wonderful quote speaking of the mesmerizing process of creating hand blown glass during ancient times, "The workman having quarried it, brought the glass and put in the fire the mass hard as iron, and the glass, set afire by the all-devouring flames, ran out melted like wax. And to men it was a marvel to see a trail flowing from the fire, and the workman trembling lest it should fall and break; and on the points of the double forceps he put the lump." (Anth. Pal. XVI.323 - Loeb translation by W.R. Paton (1979), vol. 5, p. 353 from "Solid Liquid" catalogue, Fortuna Fine Arts, New York, 1999, p. 19.)
Ancient glass manufacture had begun in the 2nd millennium BCE in Mesopotamia and Egypt. The Greeks and Phoenicians advanced glass technology greatly in the latter 1st millennium BCE. In the early 1st century CE, Roman workshops began producing blown glass on a large scale. Eventually glass vessels came to replace a wide variety of pottery and metal wares in the ancient world. Ancient Roman glass was traded far beyond the Roman Empire. Roman glass vessels have been found in Scandinavia, India, and in Han Dynasty tombs in China.
Provenance: private New York, New York, USA collection; ex-Dina Recanati estate, 5th Avenue, New York, USA
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#183894
- Condition: Two small stable hairline fissures on shoulder and extending from base to mid-body. Light surface wear as shown, but otherwise intact and excellent. Weathering film to some surfaces and lovely iridescence in areas.
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