Roman, early Imperial Period, ca. 1st century CE. A gorgeous free-blown, translucent glass bowl of a vibrant yellow-green citrine hue, boasting a form that is quite deep and a rounded but stable base. The ever so gradually expanding walls are decorated with two pairs of horizontal wheel-cut striations - one at the top and one at the bottom. A vessel of this shape was likely used for drinking wine or serving tasty vittles or condiments at a symposium. A fabulous example from the early Roman Empire! Size: 4.625" in diameter x 2.875" H (11.7 cm x 7.3 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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#139745
Condition
Weathering film around the rim as well as passages of rainbow iridescence. A few minute internal bubbles. One tiny starburst shaped pressure fissure to side wall. Otherwise excellent.