**Originally Listed At $1200**
Roman, late Republic to early Imperial Period, ca. late 1st century BCE to mid-1st century CE. A gorgeous bowl of a thick-walled composition formed from semi-translucent glass of a stunning amber-yellow hue. The slightly concave base expands gently outwards and rounds to form the walls, and a thick rim surrounds the shallow basin that itself is adorned with wheel-cut striations. The exterior is decorated with sixty-six protruding vertical ribs that are created via the pillar-molding technique where the glass is 'sagged' over a textured mold and then pulled to form the ribs. Bowls like this one were a sophisticated component of the Roman "cena," or dinner, perhaps for holding fruits, fish, or condiments like garum (fermented fish sauce). A fabulous vessel enveloped in fiery layers of silvery and rainbow iridescence. Size: 6.75" Diameter x 2" H (17.1 cm x 5.1 cm)
Published in: "Glasses of Antiquity." Fortuna Fine Arts, Ltd., New York, 2002, fig. 19.
For a strikingly similar example with a taller rim, please see The Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 74.51.288.
Cf. Grose, David Frederick. "The Toledo Museum of Art, Early Ancient Glass." The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, 1989, p. 265, no. 234.
Provenance: ex-Martin J. Wunsch collection, New York, USA, collected 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.
#152924
Condition
Rim repaired from multiple pieces in a few areas, with minor restoration in some areas of loss, and resurfacing with very light adhesive residue along break lines. Minor pitting and abrasions to base, body, ribs, and rim, with light encrustations and weathering film, and some micro-bubbling within glass matrix. Light earthen deposits as well as stunning silver and rainbow iridescence throughout. Old inventory label inside of rim.