Roman, early Imperial Period, ca. 1st to early 2nd century CE. A beautiful mold-formed flask created from thick, near-opaque glass of a cobalt-blue hue. The flask has a slightly concave base beneath a globular body, a sloped shoulder, a lightly-indented neck line, a cylindrical neck, and a flared, in-folded rim. A singular ring of wheel-cut striations encircle the shoulder, and brilliant layers of silvery and rainbow-hued iridescence envelop and nicely complement the vessel's deep aqua color. Size: 2.3" W x 3.75" H (5.8 cm x 9.5 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.
For a stylistically-similar example, please see "Solid Liquid: Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Islamic Glass." Fortuna Fine Arts, Ltd., New York, 1999, p. 59, fig. 90.
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.
#144190
Condition
Minor abrasions and weathering film along exterior surfaces, otherwise intact and excellent. Light earthen deposits as well as great silver and rainbow iridescence throughout.