Glass bowl in the form of a shell

Unknown

1st half of 4th century CE · Glass · Greek and Roman Art

Colorless with pale green tinge. Flaring, knocked-off rim with shallow S-shaped collar below; body with circular circumference and rounded bottom. Body formed into the shape of a marine bivalve mollusc (scallop) in relief with eleven ribs radiating from a deep ocellus or umbone in a fan pattern ; ribs become broader and have rounded ends below collar around rim; the ocellus is flanked to either side by a hemispherical bulge. Below the rim is a faint wheel-abraded line. Broken and repaired, with some internal cracks; pinprick and larger bubbles; faint weathering and iridescence. Bowls made in in silver, bronze, and semiprecious stone and shaped to resemble a large seashell became popular in the Hellenistic period. Glass examples were also produced in early Roman imperial times, some cast and others mold-blown. This bowl belongs to a group found mainly on the Rhine and Danube frontiers that is dated to the fourth century A.D.

Artist

Unknown

Date

1st half of 4th century CE

Medium

Glass

Culture

Roman

Department

Greek and Roman Art

Credit line

Purchase, Patricia and Marietta Fried Gift, 2007