ROMAN GLASS PITCHER WITH TREFOIL MOUTH

(75R) The Allaire Collection

Date: 3^rd C. AD From: Eastern Mediterranean Height: 13 cm Condition: Intact. Some very light iridescence

 

Description: Pale aquamarine pitcher has a piriform shape widening out to the bottom.  The concave base shows a pontil mark.  The applied handle reaches from the shoulder up to the mouth ending with a single overlap.  The faint dot decoration was formed by first mold blowing then removed and further inflated.

 

References: Christie’s July 11, 1984, Lot #9, Fascinating Fragility, Nico F. Bijnsdorf, 2010, P225, Ancient Glass in Yale University Art Gallery, Susan B. Matheson, 1980, #281

ANTIQUE GLASS BOTTLES

Antique Glass Bottles  From The Allaire Collection

The earliest glass bottles were produced in Egypt, Syria, Greece and Cyprus as early as 1500 BC using the core forming techniques. Around 50 BC, probably in Syria, the discovery of the blowpipe and the technique of glass blowing made the blown bottle possible. The following examples from the Allaire Collection of Glass illustrate various examples from 6 BC to 1850. To see all of the American glass bottles go to AMERICAN EARLY GLASS in The Allaire Collection.

Click on the photo to enlarge. Read the write-up for each glass bottle by looking up the number with the letter (A,E, or R) in the search bar. Search Bar is found on the right side at the bottom of, “The Pages”.

26R Core-formed alabastron 6th-4th BC

21R Roman amber bottle 1st Century 11.5 cm

54R Roman marbled blue bottle 1st Century 5.6 cm

4R Roman cylindrical bottle 3rd Century 9.8 cm

10R Roman wheel-cut flask 2-3rd Century

15R Roman spool-shaped unguentarium 2-3rd Century 7.7 cm

32R Roman candlestick balsamarium 2-3rd Century 18.5 cm

46R Roman tall-neck bottle 2-3rd Century 19.7 cm

11R Late Roman bottle with neck ruffle 5-6th Century

52R Roman bottle with spectacle decoration 4th Century

55R Four-side Byzantine Jar or bottle 7-8th Century

25E Venetian Glass Pilgrim Flask 16-19th Century

62E Spanish Bottle first half of 17th Century

103E Flask with pinched center, Mid 18th Century 14.5 cm

47A German bottle 1810-1870 12.7 cm

12A Dark amber swirl bottle 1800-1820

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MEROVINGIAN BELL BEAKER

(51E) The Allaire Collection

Date: 5th-7th Century AD,   H: 15cm

 

Remarks: This Frankish or Merovingian bell beaker has a wrythen-molded body in yellow glass with a fine opaque white trailing wrapped around the top and bottom. The Roman glassmaking industry in Europe slowly died out from the fourth century after which all but the simplest glassmaking techniques were used to make glass. Glass of the Migration Period and later the Middle Ages is from 6th-14th C.

Ref: Glass of the Dark Ages #13, Merseyside County Museum # B4, Sotheby’s London November 20,1987 #31

BLUE ROMAN GLASS ACETABULUM

(74R) The Allaire Collection

Date: 1st C. AD From: Eastern Mediterranean probably Italy Dimensions: H: 4cm  D: 7cm

 

Description:  Free blown dark blue glass hemispherical cup with high protruding rim and folded flange. Inside the rim the wall curves in creating a narrow ledge. Base ring no pontil mark.

Condition: Complete with silvery iridescence

References: Glass with a Divine Touch, Frides Lameris Glass and Antiques, 2017, #63, Roman and Early Byzantine Glass, Hans van Rossum, 2011, p. 40, Fire and Sand, Princeton University, 2012, #138

Remarks:  Romans often drank a mixture of vinegar and water and had a special container for this called an acetabulum. This is from the Latin acetum (vinegar) and abulum the suffix denoting a small vessel.   Today the word is used only as a medical term to describe the cup-like shape in your hip that the thigh bone sits in. Usually made of pottery, some in the first Century, as in this example were made of glass and often found in Italian graves.  Below are three examples found on this site.

ROMAN COBALT BLUE ACETABULUM

ACETABULUM

ROMAN GLASS CUP (ACETABULUM)

 

 

SMALL ROMAN GLASS BOWL

The Augustinus Collection of Ancient Glass

Date: 1st to 2nd century A.D. | Isings: form: 42 a/b | Kisa: Formentafel G 417.

Size: ­ 4.4 cm | Ø Mouth : 9.7 cm | Ø Base facet: 6.5cm| ­foot: 1.2 cm | Weight: 69 g  |

 

Description: Small bell-shaped bowl on heavy foot made of transparent glass; rim everted and folded down with rounded lip; base flat with high footring placed in a conical position, rounded as well; pontil mark visible.

Technique: Free blown, rim everted, pushed down and rounded. with footring made by folding; slight constriction where body and footring meet.

Condition: Complete with no cracks or bubbles, sign of time and adhering sand.

Reference: Whitehouse, CMG vol II, no: 646, p 139, formerly in the Strauss Collection. Bomford Collection, Bristol Museum, no: 98, p 26. Called: a common Mediterranean type.

Provenance: From a private dutch collection, previously unpublished.

ROMAN GLASS TRULLA

From The Windmill Collection of Roman Glass

Date: Late 1st – early 2nd century A.D. Size: H = 6.7 cm, D = 10.0 cm (rim), 16.6 cm (incl.handle),

 

Classification:Isings (1957), form 75b

Provenance: Collection David Giles London (UK)

Description: Deep cup of thin yellowish-green color free blown. Handle with streaks of opaque white glass. Wall descends vertically then tapering to flat slightly hollowed base. Short flattish rim with reworked lip. Body decorated with a thin glass thread started from base in 16 revolutions from bottom left to upper right. Long flat horizontal ‘fishtail’ handle attached to lip, made of a drawn-out end, pinched out with pincer-marks on top and bottom, and loose end folded on underside; widening at attachment with lip. No pontil mark present.

Condition: Intact

Remarks: Pans with handles were widely used in the Roman world, serving as ritual objects in religious ceremonies (D.Whitehouse 1997) and in sets of vessels for drinking (Hilgers 1969)

Published: 2008 A collection of Ancient Glass Paul E. Cuperus (NL), 2011 Romeins Glas uit particulier bezit (Van der Groen & Van Rossum, NL)

Exhibited: 2011 Thermen Museum Heerlen (NL), ‘Roman Glass from Private collections’, 29^th April – 28^th August, expo no. 256

References: Musée du Louvre, no. 36; Hayes, nr,148; Massabo, no. 72; Römisch-Germanisches, Museum Cologne (La Baume no. 232); Lancel (1967), no.196  (with thread decoration); Gallo-Romeins Museum Tongeren (with thread decoration)

ROMAN POMEGRANATE-SHAPED SPRINKLER FLASK

From The Allaire Collection

(47R) Date: 3rd-4th Century AD,  H: 11.5 cm

Remarks: This is a sprinkler flask where the narrowed opening of the base of the neck enables oil or perfume to be poured out drop by drop. The bowl is decorated with fins and base with toe projections. The piece is intact and is made of light yellow green glass. This type of flask, probably made in Syria, has been found much further to the east as well as in the cities of the Black Sea region.

Ref: Ancient Glass at the Newark Museum, S.H. Auth no. 149

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ROMAN GLASS POMEGRANATE-SHAPED SPRINKLER

of Hans van Rossum

 

and

POMEGRANATE SPRINKLER/ RIBBED UNGUENTARIUM

The Augustinus Collection of Ancient Glass

 

MEDUSA IN GLASS FROM THE CONTRIBUTORS

MEDALLION IN THE FORM OF MEDUSA NFB 301of Nico F. Bijnsdorp

Medusa Roman Glass Medallion NFB 301Mid 1st century AD. Italy

D max = 3.7 cm. Weight = 12 gr

Condition: Intact. Traces of grinding.

Technique: Cast/pressed into open mold.

Description: Translucent cobalt blue glass with a thin opaque white layer on the backside.
Circular medallion with rounded edge. Head of Medusa modelled in high relief (8.5 mm) surrounded by snakes. Deep set, bulging eyes, narrow nose and open mouth. Dots under chin. Flattened backside.

Remarks: A medallion like this was often given as a military decoration (phalera) to soldiers for distinguished action during battle or for merit. A phalera was attached to the soldier’s breastplate to be shown during parades.
The layer of opaque white glass at the back of the phalera makes the glass appear less dense by reflecting light back out of the glass (Newby).

Provenance: Ex the David and Jennifer Giles Collection,  Sasson Ancient Art Gallery, Jerusalem, Israel.

References: Newby 1999, the Dolf Schut Collection, No. 28. , Kunz 1981, Kunstmuseum Luzern, No. 340.

 

Double headed Large Medusa flask of David Giles

Side 1

 

Description: This is a very large (15cm) double headed Medusa flask, in aubergine (manganese) colored glass. The flask was made in two-part mold with a pontil mark on the base. Date: is 3rd/4th century AD.  Parallels can be found at The Louvre Museum, Newark Museum and Miho Museum.

 

 

Remarks: In Greek mythology Medusa was a monster, generally described as a winged human female with living venomous snakes in place of hair. Gazers upon her face would be turn to stone. Early depictions of Medusa show a repugnant, winged woman with frightening traits.  Beginning in the fifth century B. C., Medusa underwent a gradual transformation from grotesque to beautiful, as she became increasingly anthropomorphic and feminine. The connection of beauty with horror, embodied in all the figure of Medusa out lived antiquity, Fascinating and inspiring artists through the centuries.  Medusa became the archetypal femme fatale, a conflation of femininity, erotic desire, violence, and death. Along with the beautiful sirens, she foreshadows the conceit of the seductive yet threatening female that emerges in the late nineteenth century.

 

 

Presently at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York there is an exhibition “Dangerous Beauty: Medusa in Classical Art” The following pictures are of objects in that show. None of these objects are in glass.

 

ROMAN GLASS HEAD FLASK

HEAD FLASK

The Augustinus Collection of Ancient Glass

↑ 10.4 cm | Ø body: 5.4 cm | Ø Mouth : 4.05 cm | Ø Base facet: 4.0cm | Weight: 5.3 g |

Date: First half of the third century. From: Syro-Palestinian or from Italy.  Isings form: 78b. Morin-Jean: 120.

 

Description: Bottle in the shape of a male head. Transparent light-green glass. Possibly the portrait of a young Adonis or Antinous as Dionysos. Youthful head with long hair in large soft locks; wide open eyes and large ears. Intact, but repaired at the base; with patches of brown accretion and bluish-white iridescence. Flasks with a single head rarer than the double headed form.

Technique: Mold construction type IV. Body blown in a three-part mold with one visible seam on the left side of the head. Rim and neck free blown. Everted rim folded outward, then rounded. Circular flat base, with depressed circular area on the underside with pontil mark.

Condition: Mostly intact; a part of the base broken off, visible repair; some residue of ointment, on the inside of the side and bottom of the flask, still visible.

Provenance: From a private Dutch collection; previously unpublished.

Reference: Von Saldern, 1974, Glaeser der Antike, Sammlung Erwin Oppenlaender, 464, p171. Stern, 1995, The Toledo Museum of Art, Roman Mould Blown Glass, Chpt III, p201-246. Kunina, 1997, Ancient Glass, no 159, p282. Whitehouse, 2001,The Corning Museum of Glass vol II, no:542, p70.

 

ROMAN GLASS SPRINKLER FLASK OR GUTTUS

Sprinkler Flask (Guttus)

The Augustinus Collection of Ancient Glass

 

 

Date: 4th century AD | Eastern Mediterranean | Kisa: Formentafel F347. Size: ↑ 8.1-8.9cm | Ø body:6.65 cm | Ø Mouth : 5.85 cm | Ø Base facet | Weight: 89 g |

 

Description: Sprinkler of transluscent green glass with almost globular body; cylindrical neck with folded collar rim; two handles and flattened concave base. The two handles of the same colour applied with an affluent amount of glass on the shoulder on opposite sides, drawn up and attached in a fold to the overhanging tubular flange, that was unevenly balanced as the rim was pushed down in the process of rounding, and probably flattening the base.

Technique: Globular body blown into a mould and partly twisted to produce the diagonal lining. Base flattened; cylindrical neck attached after an inner diaphragm was placed at the junction of body and neck. Wide funnel mouth created with a hollow rounded fold.

Condition: Intact and complete. Some vertical, elongated bubbles in the neck. Sand encrusted, with cream-white iridescence.

Remarks:

Ad 1. Joop van der Groen en Hans van Rossum give a rather nice account in dutch language of the 4th. century sprinklers and their history in: Romeins glas uit particulier bezit, p76- 81. Mattrijs Utrecht, the Netherlands, 2011.

Ad 2. Frides Laméris, mentions two sprinklers with collar rims and with three to five feet in their catalogue: Glass with a Divine Touch, p 134-135, no 89 and 90. Amsterdam 2017.

Ad 3. Whitehouse, CMG vol 1, no 297, jar, no 298, Jar with collar rim.

Provenance: From a private Dutch collection, first publication.