Four monochrome bowls

13.198.1: Opaque dark red. Horizontal rim with uneven outer edge; convex curving side to hemispherical body; flat bottom inside outsplayed base ring with rounded edge. Intact; pitting of surface bubbles, dulling on interior, green weathering with patches of overlying brown encrustation on interior, base ring, and bottom.
13.198.2: Opaque jade green. Horizontal rim with rounded outer edge; convex curving side to hemispherical body with uneven exterior surface; flat bottom inside outsplayed base ring with rounded edge. Intact, except for one small weathered chip in rim; pitting of pinprick bubbles, dulling on interior and on bottom inside base ring; creamy brown weathering and iridescence on interior. Rotary grinding marks on interior and bottom.
13.198.3: Opaque white. Outsplayed rim with angular outward edge; convex curving side; convex bottom within slightly outsplayed base ring with rounded edge. Intact, except for small weathered chip in underside of rim; pitting, dulling, and creamy brown weathering covering whole of interior and most of base ring and bottom.
1972.118.185: Opaque white, appearing semi-translucent. Thin horizontal rim with rounded outer edge; convex curving side to hemispherical body; slightly convex bottom inside outsplayed base ring with rounded edge. Intact, except for one tiny weathered chip in rim; pitting of pinprick and larger bubbles, dulling and small patches of creamy brown weathering.

These four bowls represent a type of early imperial glassware that found particular favor with the Roman elite in the early first century A.D. Their shape is reminiscent of metal and pottery forms also popular at the time, and their characteristically angular profiles were fashioned on a lathe. Although vessels of this shape are also found in mosaic glass, these opaque examples are closely related to monochrome bowls in translucent glass (17.194.155; 91.1.1238; 81.10.128; 29.100.84), which enjoyed a longer popularity and continued to be produced well into the late first century A.D. The simple elegance of the monochrome design foreshadows the Roman preference for translucent, and eventually colorless, wares in the first and second centuries.