Glass striped mosaic bowl fragment

Unknown

late 1st century BCE–early 1st century CE · Glass · Greek and Roman Art

Translucent deep purple appearing black, cobalt blue, light blue, and honey yellow, opaque white and yellow, and colorless. Rounded rim and side, forming irregular shape with bulge in side below rim that is partially turned inward. Striped pattern formed from parallel lengths of different, repeated canes: one composite cane comprising in a central white stripe encasing colorless, flanked to either side by a colorless network wound with double yellow thread, a plain blue length encasing white, and a blue network with a white spiral thread; another length in plain yellow encasing colorless; and a third in light blue network with a honey yellow spiral thread. A purple network cane wound with a white spiral thread is attached as a rim. Polished exterior; slight pitting of surface bubbles on exterior; dulling, slight pitting, and faint iridescence on interior; some weathering on jagged edges. The fragment does not appear to be distorted and so may belong to a bowl with a spout.

Artist

Unknown

Date

late 1st century BCE–early 1st century CE

Medium

Glass

Culture

Roman, probably Italian

Department

Greek and Roman Art

Credit line

Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917