Roman Holy Land, Imperial Period, ca. 1st century CE. A stunning pattern molded glass sprinkler vessel comprised of pale blue-green glass with nice areas of translucence, its form presenting a bulbous body decorated with a swirled pattern, a tubular neck, a tooled funnel mouth with a constricted opening inside for sprinkling, and twin trailed handles joining rim to shoulder. The surface presents gorgeous silvery and rainbow iridescence. Size: 3.25" W handlespan x 3.5" H (8.3 cm x 8.9 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 New York, New York, USA collection; ex-Elinor Katz collection, purchased in the 1970s from Barakat Antiquities, Jerusalem
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#146329
Condition
Fissure to the rim with minute loss to upper end of trail handle. Otherwise intact. No pontil mark as this piece was mold-blown. Nice pattern molded decoration. Surface deposits as shown. Gorgeous rainbow and silvery iridescence.