Roman, Imperial period, ca. 1st to 3rd century CE. A wonderful glass flask featuring a globular body and a conical spout encompassed by cyan-hued bands of trailing. The nearly clear quality of this light blue glass would have been highly prized in Roman times as it was thought to resemble rock crystal. Scattered areas of rainbow iridescence further accentuate the opulence of this beautiful, ancient vessel! Size: 3" Diameter x 4.8" H (7.6 cm x 12.2 cm)
Most scholars agree, Roman glass was of the highest quality - both aesthetically and technically - among the ancients. While glass making had been practiced for centuries, glass blowing was invented in the Roman-controlled Holy Land in the 1st century BCE. This innovative technology revolutionized the artform. We can appreciate such a wide variety of forms and shapes, because the medium of glass has unique physical properties that make for so many more possibilities which would eventually replace a wide variety of pottery and metal wares in the ancient world. Roman glassmakers reached incredible artistic heights with both free-blown vessels and mold blown forms and decorations and were traded far beyond the Roman Empire. Roman glass vessels have been found in Scandinavia, India, and in Han Dynasty tombs in China.
Exhibited in "Ancient Glass: Selections from the Richard Brockway Collection" at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art at Willamette University, Salem from March 10 to May 19, 2007 and "Glass of the Ancient World" at the Vero Beach Museum of Art, Florida from October 11 to December 28, 2008.
Provenance: private Vero Beach, Florida, USA collection, acquired before 2003
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#177389
Condition
Intact and excellent with areas of weathering film and light iridescence.