Glass beaker with snake-thread decoration
Colorless with green tinge; trails in same color.
Outsplayed, uneven, knocked-off rim; vertical side to body, then tapering to form hollow stem; low foot, with rounded, tubular edge, made by folding; pushed-in bottom with domed kick at center and pontil mark.
On body, side divided into four vertical panels, each containing a snake-thread trail (three of nine loops, one of eight) with a trailing-off tail below, all tooled flat with cross-hatch pattern; between panels, a slender vertical trail applied to lower body, drawn up, tooled to form horizontal ribs, then folded down over ribs as a plain trail.
Intact; some pinprick bubbles; dulling, creamy weathering, and iridescence on exterior, soil encrustation and thicker black and brown weathering on interior.
After the beaker had been blown, decoration in the form of snakes was added with molten threads of glass. Many beakers of this type have been found in northern France.
Outsplayed, uneven, knocked-off rim; vertical side to body, then tapering to form hollow stem; low foot, with rounded, tubular edge, made by folding; pushed-in bottom with domed kick at center and pontil mark.
On body, side divided into four vertical panels, each containing a snake-thread trail (three of nine loops, one of eight) with a trailing-off tail below, all tooled flat with cross-hatch pattern; between panels, a slender vertical trail applied to lower body, drawn up, tooled to form horizontal ribs, then folded down over ribs as a plain trail.
Intact; some pinprick bubbles; dulling, creamy weathering, and iridescence on exterior, soil encrustation and thicker black and brown weathering on interior.
After the beaker had been blown, decoration in the form of snakes was added with molten threads of glass. Many beakers of this type have been found in northern France.
Artwork Details
- Title: Glass beaker with snake-thread decoration
- Period: Late Imperial
- Date: 4th century CE
- Culture: Roman, Gallia Belgica
- Medium: Glass; blown and trailed
- Dimensions: H. 15.7 cm
Diameter of rim: 8.3 cm
Diameter of base: 6.2 cm
Diameter of body: 7.6 cm - Classification: Glass
- Credit Line: Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
- Object Number: 17.191.362
- Curatorial Department: Greek and Roman Art
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