麻豆影院

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2008.18.2.3, Eastern Mediterranean Ribbed Cup or Bowl

Catalogue Entry听
Photograph of a clear glass bowl with a slightly flaring lip, from the side against a neutral gray background.

From the Catalogue of听Ancient Glass in the University of Colorado Museum

Gift of H. Medill Sarkisian and Justine Sarkisian Rodriguez (1979)
(2008)
贬别颈驳丑迟:听7.1听肠尘
Diameter (max.):听9.4听cm
Eastern Mediterranean, 1st century B.C.E. to 1st century C.E.

Description: Everted rim with unworked edge turning in at top. Slight shoulder. Body bulges out in center. Pinched-out ribs extening from just above middle of body to underside of base. Flat bottom.听Pale greenish tint.听 and a great deal of white incrustation.听Mold-blown.

Comment: This type of vessel, sometimes known as a听zarte Rippenschale, bears some resemblance to Isings Form 17, but without marvered threads.听Decorated versions of this type (e.g. Eisen 1927, pl. 37;听Megaw 1957,听pl. 4f;听von Saldern 1980, pl. 2) have similar bodies.听Other, simpler examples are听Fitzwilliam Museum听1978, nos. 60a and b;听Gill 2000, p. 102;听and also Avigad 1983,听fig. 219, a fragment of a bowl from Jerusalem dating to the early 1st century B.C.E. (or earlier). See, also, Weinberg and Stern 2009 G 213.听

Discussion

Ribbed bowls belong to Grose's Group C (1). These bowls are differentiated from ther grooved and fluted bowls in Grose's Groups A and B by the flat or slightly concave bottom. Their self-supporting nature meant that they could serve as either luxury or daily use tablewares, while the ribbed sides provided a solid grip.听The ribs were likely formed by pinching the glass with a tool while it is still soft enough to shape.听Vertical ribs听are very common on Roman glass, as听it is a simple decorative technique that is quickly and easily accomplished (2).听

Ribbed bowls originated in the Eastern Mediterranean, but they soon spread throughout western Europe in ways that other bowl types did not and they were standard in 听from the 1st century B.C.E. to听the late 1st century C.E. (3).

The pale green tint of this glass bowl comes from a small amount of natural metal in the ingredients. All sand used for making glass has a very small percentage of metals in it. Green glass is caused by one to three percent of iron mixed in with the sand. It is uncertain how much the ancient Roman glassmakers听could control the tint of the glass, but they knew which metals caused which colors (4).听During the听height of the Roman Empire, colorless glass became more and more desirable. The less tinted the glass was with color, the more expensive it was (5).

This bowl was not听free-blown听or听core-formed; it was shaped using a mold, either through by 听or perhaps by . Mold-blowing听was invented around 25 C.E. (6).听Hot, pliable glass is gathered at the end of a pipe by the glass-blower, while another person closes a two-piece mold around the glass that is stuck to the pipe. Then the glass is inflated while trapped within the hollow mold, so that it takes on the . Once the glass has cooled and hardened, the mold is opened up to reveal the finished bowl or bottle. Sagging, on the other hand, involved sagging or slumping a disk of softened听glass over a mold.听Molds could be made out of fired clay, plaster, wood, or stone. They were very convenient because they were reusable: a glass-blower could produce many glass bowls all with the same shape and design from a single mold. Many Roman glass vases have vertical marks from where the two halves of the mold met (7).听

Footnotes

  1. Gladys听D. Weinberg and E. Marianne Stern,听Vessel Glass,听The Athenian Agora XXXIV听(Princeton: The American School of Classical Studies, 2007): 33.
  2. E. Marianne Stern,听Roman, Byzantine, and Early Medieval Glass听(New York: Hatje Cantz Publishers, 2001): 47.
  3. Weinberg and Stern (2007): 33.
  4. Donald B. Harden,听Roman Glass from Karanis听(Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1936): 6-9.
  5. Hugh Tait, ed.,听Five Thousand Years of Glass听(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991): 79-82.
  6. Tait 1991: 62.
  7. Stern 2001: 45-48.

References

  • Avigad, N.听Discovering Jerusalem.听Nashville: T. Nelson,听1983.
  • Eisen, G. A.听Glass: Its Origin, History, Chronology, Technic and Classification to the Sixteenth Century, v. 1.听New York: W. E. Rudge,听1927.
  • Gill, D. W..听鈥淐ommunications and Trade,鈥 in听The Atlas of World Archaeology, ed. P. G. Bahn.听London: Greenwich Editions,听2000: pp. 102-103.
  • Grose, D. F.听Early Ancient Glass: Core-Formed, Rod-Formed, and Cast Vessels and Objects from the Late Bronze Age to the Early Roman Empire, 1600 B.C. to A.D. 50.听New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1989.
  • Glass at the Fitzwilliam Museum.听Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,听1978.
  • Megaw, A. H. S.听鈥淎rchaeology in Cyprus,鈥澨Archaeological Reports听4 (1957): 43-50.听
  • Weinberg, G. D. and E. M. Stern.听Vessel Glass. The Athenian Agora听Vol. 34 (Princeton: The American School of Classical Studies at Athens 2009).听
  • von Saldern, A.听Ancient and Byzantine Glass from Sardis.听Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press,听1980.