FOUR CORE-FORMED FISH SHAPED GLASS BEADS

FOUR CORE-FORMED FISH SHAPED GLASS BEADS

The Augustinus Collection of Ancient Glass

(See below for details on the above beads)

–

Of the 7th. – 6th. Century B.C.     Egypt, West Persia or Italy

↑ 4.6/3.7/3.9/4.9cm    Ø body: 2.2 /1.8/2.0/1.9 cm

Ø Mouth: 0.6, 0.6, 0.6, 0.6 cm        Ø Tail: 0.4, 0.3, 0.2, 0.3 cm

 

Technique: core-formed with different colors of glass: feathered in black, white, blue yellow and red; mouth and tail, or begin and end, circled with white opaque glass.

Description: Fish-shaped beads from a chain of beads; with longitudinal perforation, each with a wide opening as the mouth and a smaller opening on the opposite end, the tail; vertical opaque white lining on all openings; the rough surface imprint of the sand-core inside is well visible.

Condition: Complete but deeply weathered; some sandy encrustation; pitted surfaces.

Remarks: Belonging to a chain of sand-core beads or possibly used individually as runners for metal brooch fibulae, where the fish shaped body could have suited the use of a bronze brooch for the mouth- and tail opening are not of the same size.

Latter statement is a proposition where as most of the sand-core fibulae have bow-shaped forms to the brooches, as examples with Kisa, Haevernick, Grose and Goldstein show. The fish-shaped beads are unique in this size for no comparable examples have been found in literature so far.

Provenance: Most Likely from Egypt, Western Persia or Italy (Etruscan era). In a private dutch collection. First publication.

 Reference:

Kisa,1906, Das Glas im Altertume, vol I, p 49, ill. 23.

Haevernick, 1959, Jahrbuch RGZM 6, 57-63. Zu den Glasbuegel Fibeln.

Nolte, 1968, Die Glasgefaesse im alten Aegypten, p 58-60. p176. pl XXVIII 59, 60.

pl XXIX 1, 2.

Von Saldern et al. 1974, no 106, p 48. Sammlung Erwin Oppenlaender.

Goldstein, 1979, Pre Roman and Early Roman glass, p 123, no 254, inv. 66.1.134/ 76.1.32

Von Saldern 1980, Ancient and Byzantine Glass from Sardis, no:833, p106, pl 19.

Bomford Collection, 1976, no 5, p 13.

Grose, 1989, Early Ancient Glass at the Toledo Museum.

Bead 1A

Bead 1B

Bead 2A

Bead 2B

bead 3A

Bead 3B

Bead 4A

Bead 4B