Breathtaking Greek Core Form Glass Amphoriskos

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Ancient / Ethnographic / Americana

By Artemis Gallery

Jul 11, 2019

Set Reminder 2019-07-11 10:00:00 2019-07-11 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Ancient / Ethnographic / Americana https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/ancient-ethnographic-americana-4246
Discover ancient art from Egypt, Greece, Italy, and the Near East, as well as Asian, Pre-Columbian, Tribal, Fossils and Fine Art. Also featuring a wonderful collection from a prominent New York estate whose owners reside in the Van Wyck family's historic Lloyd Harbor waterfront home. Artemis Gallery info@artemisgallery.com

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• Lot Description
  Ancient Greece, ca. 3rd to 1st century BCE. A lovely example of a core-formed glass amphoriskos once used to hold fragrant oil. This vessel boasts a classic form with a piriform body and twin applied trailed handles - one tangerine orange and the other deep cobalt blue - that gracefully join the neck to the rim, all upon a concave base. The decoration of this piece is simply breathtaking. Note how the deep blue body is wound with tangerine orange and white thread-like trails applied and skillfully pulled into a feathered pattern around the center with horizontal trails below and above on the neck. A divine work of glass art to be treasured for its impeccable form, beautiful hues, sophisticated technique, and wonderful traces of rainbow iridescence adorning the rim, neck, and handles. Size: 4" H (10.2 cm); 4.375" H (11.1 cm) on included custom stand.
  
  A vessel like this would have been made for the elites of ancient society. Its owner would have used a stopper to keep the contents inside, and a glass rod to dip into the vessel's perfumed oils and dab on the throat or wrists. The handles made it possible to suspend the vessel, and we know from Athenian vase paintings that vessels like these could be worn off a belt at the waist or suspended from the wrist.
  
  The Greeks created core-formed or sand core vessels by trailing threads of molten glass over a "core" of sand or clay to form the vessel. These threads were oftentimes feathered or dragged to create intriguing decorative patterns. The term amphoriskos literally means "little amphora" and is indeed a miniature amphora. This shape was quite popular as it was ideal to store precious oils, perfumes, or cosmetics.
  
  According to the Corning Museum of Glass, core forming is "the technique of forming a vessel by winding or gathering molten glass around a core supported by a rod. After forming, the object is removed from the rod and annealed. After annealing, the core is removed by scraping." (https://www.cmog.org/glass-dictionary/core-forming). This process of glass making was begun in the late 16th century BCE by glassmakers of Mesopotamia, and then adopted by Egyptian glassmakers in the 15th century BCE. The technique almost came to an end in the so-called Dark Ages of Mediterranean civilization (1200 to 900 BCE);however, by the 9th century BCE a new generation of glassmakers took up the technique once again, and between the 6th and 4th century BCE core-forming spread throughout the Mediterranean.
  
  Provenance: private East Coast, USA collection; ex-Martin Wunsch collection, New York, USA, acquired in the 1980s
  
  All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.
  
  A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.
  
  We ship worldwide and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience.
  
  #146567

  Condition

  Professionally repaired from multiple pieces with areas of restoration over the break lines, though very well done and repairs are difficult to see. Form is still strong.
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