Ancient Near East, Holy Land, early Byzantine Empire, ca. 4th to 6th century CE. A delicate and near-colorless glass bulb shaped beaker from an oil lamp. The base is rounded before the form corsets inward, then flares outward again to create a wide mouth with a thick, rolled rim. The glass remains almost colorless, with almost no signs of wear aside from some faint rainbow iridescence around the lower body. As a lamp, this glass cup was inserted into a metal lamp holder or chandelier, sometimes known as a polycandelion, Greek for "many lights." We know that colorless glass was very popular, particularly from the third quarter of the 1st century onward, and was used primarily for tableware. It required a careful selection of raw materials, because even a tiny bit of iron compound could add color. Size: 2.4" W x 3.25" H (6.1 cm x 8.3 cm)
To see an example of how this glass lamp may have been suspended, please see the Walters Art Museum's website, accession number: 54.2466.
Provenance: East Coast collection, New York Gallery, New York City, New York, USA, acquired before 2010
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#138512
Condition
Intact, with very light deposits on lower body. Very faint rainbow iridescence. Old collection label on the base. Vessel possesses a pontil scar or mark which indicates that the vessel was free-blown. (The absence of such a mark would suggest that the work was either mold-blown or that the mark was intentionally smoothed away or wore away over time.)