Glass bowl in the form of a shell
Colorless with pale green tinge.
Flaring, knocked-off rim with shallow S-shaped collar below; body with circular circumference and rounded bottom.
Body formed into the shape of a marine bivalve mollusc (scallop) in relief with eleven ribs radiating from a deep ocellus or umbone in a fan pattern ; ribs become broader and have rounded ends below collar around rim; the ocellus is flanked to either side by a hemispherical bulge. Below the rim is a faint wheel-abraded line.
Broken and repaired, with some internal cracks; pinprick and larger bubbles; faint weathering and iridescence.
Bowls made in in silver, bronze, and semiprecious stone and shaped to resemble a large seashell became popular in the Hellenistic period. Glass examples were also produced in early Roman imperial times, some cast and others mold-blown. This bowl belongs to a group found mainly on the Rhine and Danube frontiers that is dated to the fourth century A.D.
Flaring, knocked-off rim with shallow S-shaped collar below; body with circular circumference and rounded bottom.
Body formed into the shape of a marine bivalve mollusc (scallop) in relief with eleven ribs radiating from a deep ocellus or umbone in a fan pattern ; ribs become broader and have rounded ends below collar around rim; the ocellus is flanked to either side by a hemispherical bulge. Below the rim is a faint wheel-abraded line.
Broken and repaired, with some internal cracks; pinprick and larger bubbles; faint weathering and iridescence.
Bowls made in in silver, bronze, and semiprecious stone and shaped to resemble a large seashell became popular in the Hellenistic period. Glass examples were also produced in early Roman imperial times, some cast and others mold-blown. This bowl belongs to a group found mainly on the Rhine and Danube frontiers that is dated to the fourth century A.D.
Artwork Details
- Title: Glass bowl in the form of a shell
- Period: Late Imperial
- Date: 1st half of 4th century CE
- Culture: Roman
- Medium: Glass; blown in an open one-part mold
- Dimensions: Diam.: 5 in. (12.7 cm)
- Classification: Glass
- Credit Line: Purchase, Patricia and Marietta Fried Gift, 2007
- Object Number: 2007.233
- Curatorial Department: Greek and Roman Art
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