Glass serving dish

Unknown

second half of the 1st–2nd century CE · Glass, greenish colorless · Greek and Roman Art

Colourless with green tinge. Rim ground smooth; horizontal border with two raised lines on each side of shallow rectangular bowl; sides sloping in to flat bottom; two large horizontal handles with roughly cut hole at center of each and cut decoration along outer edge; at corners, four small incised circles; raised hollow foot of rectangular shape, made by applying thick trail to bottom of bowl and then ground smooth; trail applied at one corner and run all way around bottom. Broken and repaired across one handle and one end of the other with side of tray; some milky weathering and iridescence; dulling and pitting. Such glass vessels may have been made in imitation of rock crystal and marble tablewares, although there are also similar examples in silver plate and the rectilinear shape and sharp edges are much more appropriate for metalwork than glass.

Artist

Unknown

Date

second half of the 1st–2nd century CE

Medium

Glass, greenish colorless

Culture

Roman

Department

Greek and Roman Art

Credit line

Gift of Renée E. and Robert A. Belfer, 2012