ONE-HANDLED ROMAN GLASS JUG

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One-handled Roman Jug of Ludovic Deswelle

Date: Late 3rd-early 4th century  Height: 8.8 cm  Origin: Eastern Mediterranean

Remarks: Pale green blown glass single-handled jug with some iridescence.  The cylindrical shape shows faint pattern-molded vertical ribs on the bottom half of the body.  The single-handle is attached at the shoulder and pulled up to connect with the flattened horizontal rim.

Provenance: Collection Demeuleanere, Loudmer-Kevorkian sale (Paris 3-4 June 1985, Lot 357)

 

ANCIENT GLASS CONTAINERS IN THE SHAPE OF FRUIT

ANCIENT ROMAN GLASS CONTAINERS IN THE SHAPE OF FRUIT

 

Amber Grape Flask, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Amber Mellon Flask, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Blue Date Flask, J. Paul Getty Museum

Blue Grape Jug with Handle, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Blue Mellon Jug, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Date Flask, J. Paul Getty Museum

Grape Flask, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Long Neck Dark Amber Grape Flask, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Pineapple Flask, The Toledo Museum of Art

Core-formed Pomegranate Shaped Glass Vessel, The Newark Museum

128 POMEGRANATE-SHAPED SPRINKLER from the collection of Hans van Rossum

47R Sprinkler Flask in shape of a pomegranate 3-4th C Allaire collection

CYLINDRICAL ROMAN BOTTLE FLASK WITH FLARING RIM

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of  the The Augustinus Collection of Ancient Glass

     Date: End 1st – 2nd century Size: ↑ 10.48, 10.29 cm | Ø body: 5.65 cm | Ø Mouth 5.6 cm | Ø Base facet: 4.87cm  Weight: 51.5 g  | Isings form: 102

 

Technique: Free blown cylindrical bottle; rim tooled ; with pontil mark.

Description: Cylindrical flask of translucent white glass. Cylindrical body slightly oval-shaped with short widening neck ending in a flaring rim almost as wide as the body. Rim folded out and inward, flattened creating a sunken neck. Concave base with pontil mark.

Condition: Good, complete, no cracks, some bubbles, with little bluish iridecence, some adhering sand.

Remarks: According to Isings, form 102, two varieties do exist: one has a rim folded outward and inward, flattened afterwards. The other has a more funnelshaped mouth, with a rim folded inward and rounded. It usually has a thick coil below the rim. While this version does not have the coil, it has the funnelshaped mouth and can be regarded a mixture of both types.

Provenance: From a private dutch collection, first publication. No specific data of provenance known.

Reference: Equivalent specimens come from: Musée du Louvre, Trier Museum, Cologne Museum, Nijmegen Museum Kam and Princeton University Art Museum, Allaire collection 04R

 

GLASS MAKING TECHNIQUE: MOLD-BLOWING

The technique of mold-blowing all so called mold-blown is a very old method used to make glass containers and objects. A molten glass parison (bubble) on the end of a blow pipe is blown into a mold to give shape and decoration to the vessel.  It may be further inflated and worked after removal from the mold.  The molds used are made of a two or three parts or the simple one part dip or optic type.

 

The following examples illustrate glass objects which are made by mold-blowing from the Allaire Collection and others.  Click on the photo to enlarge.

 

The Corning Museum of Glass. Made by the master-glassmaker Ennion worked from about A.D. 30-70.

The Corning Museum of Glass. Made by the master-glassmaker Ennion worked from about A.D. 30-70.

01A American Honey Comb Pitcher 19th Century

9R Roman mold-blown perfume bottle 3-4th Century

46A Mid-western popcorn Pitkin 6 inches

74E German Warzenbecher 17th Century

43R Roman Sidonian Bottle with Scoll Design 1st Century Allaire Collection

ROMAN “LOTUS-BUD” BEAKER WITH MASKS of Nico F. Bijnsdorp

 

ROMAN JUG WITH OVOID BODY AND TREFOIL MOUTH

of  the The Augustinus Collection of Ancient Glass

                 

 Date: 4th. century AD  Isings form: 124B  Size: ↑ 12.4 cm | Ø body: 5.81 cm | Ø Mouth : 4.15 x 4.71 cm | Ø Base facet: 3.41cm| Weight: 69 g  |

 

Technique: Free blown Jug, tubular foot ring applied. Handle and trail around neck and under the mouth applied. Mouth tooled to a trefoil shape.

Description: Late Roman glass jug of the Constantinian era in translucent white and middle-green colour, with globular-ovoid body, cylindrical neck and trefoil mouth, green tubular ring base with pontil mark. Handle applied on shoulder, drawn up and attached to the edge of the rim in a fold. Green trail wound around neck and below the trefoil mouth.

Condition: In fair condition, several stable cracks to the body. Trail around the neck halfway broken off.

Remarks: Lots of adhering sand partly mixed with possibly its original content, for the glass of the body and neck are no longer translucent. There is an irregular contrast to the white semi-transluscent body and the green-coloured neck, as if the technical skill to separate the colours has failed.

Provenance: From a private Dutch collection, previously unpublished. No specific data of provenance known.

Reference: Israel Museum, 73.37.103, 4th. c. | Fitzwilliam museum 1978, no 108c. | Van Rossum 2017, The Collection Dos and Bertie Winkel, Dos82. 4th. c. | La Baume, No D66, Taf 31, 3 | Sammlung Hentrich No 213 | Hayes, No 336. | Kunina 1977, 388, 3rd-4th. c. | Harden, 1936, p 243, No 722.

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APPLIED BLOBS AS DECORATION

During the making of vessels, blobs of molten glass were dropped onto the surface creating a raised decoration, sometimes called prunts.  It was an option for the glassmaker to leave the blobs in an irregular smooth shape or to form a pattern such as a lion head or a raspberry design as with the German roemers.   On others the hot glass blobs were pulled out with a tool forming spikes.  The texture of these prunts provided a  firm grip on the vessel, as diners during the Middle Ages may have been eating with their fingers.

The following pictures show examples from our collection to illustrate various styles of blob decoration.

57R Roman cup or lamp with blue blobs 4th Century Allaire Collection

Early Roemer Spiked Prunts Early 17th C.

Krautstrunk Smooth Prunts 1500 C.

Facon de Venise Covered Jar with Animal Head Medallions 1600 C. Allaire collection

Roemer with Rounded Prunts 1650-1675

Engraved Roemer with Rassberry Prunts Late 17th C.

1E Salviati goblet with Animal Head Medallions 19th Century

 

ROMAN PALE GREEN CUP

Roman Pale Green Cup 59R

2^nd-4^th Century   H: 7.3 cm

Remark: A small pale green palm cup, cracked with no weathering. Two or more centuries later the Merovingian palm cup appeared.

Provenance: The collection of Louis Gabriel Bellon.

Merovingian Palm Cup 114E

H: 6.5 cm, Dia. 10 cm Date: 600-800 Century AD

Remarks: This is a Frankish (Merovingian) palm cup of light green glass. The cup has the characteristic rounded form at the bottom and a rounded rim.

Provenance: Ex: Martin Wunsch collection, NYC.

Ref: Verres Antiques et de L’Islam: Ancienne Collection de Monsieur D. (Auction at Hotel, 1985 lot 519), Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Glass in the British Museum Vera I. Evison, P. 140 # 95

 

ROMAN FREE BLOWN GLASS FLASK

 ROMAN FREE BLOWN GLASS FLASK OF Elisabeth & Theo Zandbergen

ROMAN FREE BLOWN GLASS FLASK

Origin: Karanis/Fayum, Egypt, 2nd – 3rd AD. (see Harden) – Isings nr. 101

Dimensions: ↑ 10,2 cm.; ø corpus 6,5 cm.; ø rim 5,7 cm.; weight 75,5 gram.

Description: Roman free blown flask made from olive green glass. The corpus of the body is of a somewhat flattened bulbous form. The bottom has a kick-in base with a visible pontil mark. At the shoulder of the corpus two handles have been attached. These having the typical form for the area in which these objects were made being loops first attached to the corpus and than with multiple loops pulled out to the neck connecting to the multi-spiral thread around the top of the neck. The handles differ in form where the one on the right in this picture is more fragile in form than the other. The splayed out rim has on the underside an additional glass thread to provide extra strength to the rim. The outer edge of the rim has been folded inward.

Condition: intact.

Parallels: – Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf, Glassammlung Hentrich, Antike und Islam,
1974 nr. 181; Harden Karanis 1936, nr. 783
– Catalogue Galerie Puhze nr. 23 publicized 2009 object nr. 170
– Kelsey museum, University of Michigan, Ann Harbor, accession number 5163,
noting that their object was found in Fayum

Provenance: – ex collectie Kind, Fellbach nr. 47,
– with Galerie Puhze Freiburg,
– in owners collection since 2009.

BLUE GLASS UNGUENTARIUM WITH SCALLOPED EDGE

 

BLUE UNGUENTARIUM WITH SCALLOPED EDGE

of  the The Augustinus Collection of Ancient Glass

Date: End of the 2nd century – early 3rd century. Isings form: 42d. Size:↑ 2.7 cm | Ø Rim: 6.1 cm | Ø Body : 5 cm | Ø Base: 4 cm| Weight: 49 g  |

 

Description: Small lightblue bowl with darkblue scalloped rim and darkblue hollow footring. The rim is formed as a cog-wheel with 19 teeth. Seen from above the bowl shows a starlike appearance with a beautifull two-tone light effect. Seen from the side, the foot, body and rim form a straight line with convex components.

Technique: Most likely the body was formed in a mould, where-as the rim and footring were applied and tooled. Hollow bottom with pontilmark.

Condition: Complete, no cracks, some bubbles and sign of time, with heavy golden irisation on the bottom and on the in- and outsides.

Remarks: Isings, 1957, form 42d, speaks of only three datable specimens that are known. Whitehouse, 2001, CMG vol. II, 650, Bowl. 4th-5th c AD. Glass bowls with scalloped flange rims are unusual. Opinions on the date of these bowls have ranged from the first to the fifth century.

Provenance:    From a private dutch collection, previously unpublished.

Reference: Auth, 1976, p176, 245, Persia 9th-10th c. AD (?), Fremersdorf, 1958 vol. IV, Das Naturfarbenes Glas aus Koeln, Tafel 71., Harden, 1936, Karanis, nr. 257, p 111., Isings, 1957, Form 42d, p. 58, end 2nd c. AD., Kisa, 1908, p.799, fig. 320f (not: 320g), Platz-Horster, 1976, p.176, 3rd.-4th. c., Von Saldern, 1974, Slg. Hentrich 125, nr. 164, Whitehouse, 2001, CMG vol.II, 650 Bowl. 4th-5th c AD.

 

POMEGRANATE-SHAPED SPRINKLER

 

ROMAN GLASS POMEGRANATE-SHAPED SPRINKLER

of Hans van Rossum

First half of 4th century AD | Eastern Mediterranean, Syria

 Size↑9.7 cm | ø 6.6 cm | Weight 76 g

 

Technique:Free blown, pinched ribs and toes; coil applied

Description: Transparent pale amber glass, squat globular body with five vertical ribs, made by pinching and topped by tooled knobs. Base with five similar pinched glass ‘toes’, no                            pontil mark. A broad splayed lip with in-folded rim, beneath with a turquoise transparent trail of glass which was added as a highlight. Like all sprinkler flasks this specimen has a tooled diaphragm with a hole at the base of the neck.

Condition: Intact and clear, perfect condition

Remarks: The pinched ribs and small ring of pinched toes forming the base of these vessels evoke pomegranates, visible by turning them. The popularity of pomegranate-                                  shaped sprinklers may have been inspired by the fruit’s symbolic associations with beauty and fertility.

Provenance: collection C.A. Hessing, Laren (NL) 25 May 1998, acquired in the 1990s, collection number 33 Amsterdam art market, Kunsthandel Aalderink 1993

Published: Antiek Glas, de Kunst van het Vuur, R. van Beek no. 68, ill. 7

Exhibited: Thermenmuseum Heerlen (NL), Romeins Glas, geleend uit particulier bezit, exp. no. 128 29 April – 28 August 2011, Allard Pierson Museum Amsterdam (NL), de Kunst van het Vuur, exp. no. 68 17 May – 16 September 2001

Reference: Ancient Glass at the Newark Museum, S.H. Auth no. 149, inv. no. 50.1502 Roman, Byzantine and Early-Medieval Glass, Ernesto Wolf Collection, E.M. Stern no. 136 Solid Liquid, Fortuna Fine Arts Ltd. no. 194 Vom Luxusobjekt zum Gebrauchs-gefäβ, M. Honroth no. 133 La fragilitat en el temps. El vidre a l’antiguitat, T.C. Rossell no. 89,  Allaire Collection 47R