Roman, Imperial Period, ca. 1st to 2nd century CE. A beautiful free-blown near-transparent jar of a yellow-green hue with a slight concave base and rough pontil scar, a spherical body, and a squat neck terminating in a flared and in-folded rim. Dozens of minute hairline striations wrap around the body, with faint areas of silvery and rainbow-hued iridescence providing for an elegant presentation. With its delicate composition, sophisticated craftsmanship, and utilitarian form, this is an opulent example from artisans in the early Roman Empire! Size: 5" W x 5.625" H (12.7 cm x 14.3 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.
Provenance: private East Coast, USA collection
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#135597
Condition
Surface wear and minor abrasions commensurate with age, very light encrustations across body and rim, and light roughness along base, otherwise intact and near-choice. Light earthen deposits along base. Great silver and rainbow iridescence in scattered areas.