MINIATURE ROMAN GLASS AMPHORA

MINIATURE AMPHORA of  Hans van Rossum

Second half of 1st century AD | Syro-Palestinian, probably Sidon

Size↑10.9 cm | ø 4.7 cm | Weight 32 g

Technique: Body blown into a bipartite mold of two vertical sections, neck free blown; handles applied

Classification: Stern 1995 class MCT VIII

Description: Transparent colorless to purple glass. Elongated ovoid body, blown into a bipartite mold of two vertical sections; body decorated with twenty-five concentric, horizontal mold blown ridges from neck to base. One continuous mold seam around body and base, mold seam is clearly visible. Cylindrical neck with smooth transition to shoulder. Rim folded outward, upward and inward. Two coil handles of cobalt blue glass, applied on shoulder and attached to halfway neck, in a fold. Pointed base.

Condition: Intact, in a perfect condition; some slightly incrustation

Remarks: This type imitates large clay transport amphoras as imitations of Graeco-Italic amphoras of the late Hellenistic period. Numerous variations in size, height of the mold, number of horizontal ridges cut into the mold, finishing of the base (pointed, rounded, or flat) and care taken in aligning mold parts indicate that a number of workshops produced these popular shapes. The discovery of two mold-blown amphoras of this type at Pompeii proves that the type was created before 79 AD when the eruption of Mount Vesuvius buried the cities of Campania. (Stern 1995)

Provenance: British private collection, acquired during the 1980s – 2013

Published: Gorny & Mosch, Auktion Kunst der Antike  no. 218, 18. Dezember 2013 lot 87

Reference:  Ancient Glass at the Newark Museum, S. H. Auth no. 69, Roman Mold-blown Glass, the Toledo Museum of Art, E. M. Stern nos. 64 – 67,  Antike Gläser, G. Platz-Horster no. 54, Metropolitan Museum of Art New York inv.no. 17.194.234; inv.no. 17.194.235