Cameo-glass cup fragment

Unknown

end of 1st century BCE–beginning of 1st century CE · Glass · Greek and Roman Art

Translucent cobalt blue with overlay in opaque white. Vertical rim with top edge ground flat; narrow sloping collar below rim on exterior; cylindrical body with slightly convex curving side. On interior, two deep horizontal grooves below rim; on exterior, below plain collar in relief naked male figure in white, facing right, with proper left leg raised and proper right arm also raised with hand near mouth; above his head to right is a hanging leaf; behind him to left is a squared plinth on which stands a small herm of Silenus, naked, armless, and ithyphallic, in profile to right, flanked to either side by leafy sprays. The figure may be identified as a dancing satyr. Rim fragment with chips and cracks, broken at sides and bottom; dulling, slight pitting, whitish weathering on exterior, and faint iridescence. Rotary grinding marks on interior. The fragment depicts a figure facing right and a small statue of Priapus on a pedestal.

Artist

Unknown

Date

end of 1st century BCE–beginning of 1st century CE

Medium

Glass

Culture

Roman

Department

Greek and Roman Art

Credit line

Gift of Henry G. Marquand, 1881