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Glass cantharus (drinking cup)

ca. 40–80 CE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 166
Translucent cobalt blue; handles in same color.
Flaring, rounded rim, with folded solid flange below; bell-shaped body, carving in sharply to solid, short stem; low, splayed foot, formed from a separate gather with knocked-off and ground outer edge; uneven, flat bottom; low kick at center of inside of body; strap handles attached to lower sides of body in pads, tooled flat above, drawn up and outwards, then curved round and down in a loop above rim, and applied to lip and underside of rim.
Complete, but repaired on rim at junction of both handles, with one small chip and rim and one larger chip on underside of edge of foot; some bubbles, elongated horizontally around rim; dulling, some pitting of surface bubbles, iridescent weathering, and small patches of limy encrustation.

This is an early type of wineglass and would have graced the table of a wealthy Roman at a dinner or drinking party. Most surviving examples are recorded from sites in the northwestern provinces, but this cup is said to be from the city of Rome.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Glass cantharus (drinking cup)
  • Period: Early Imperial, Claudian or Flavian
  • Date: ca. 40–80 CE
  • Culture: Roman
  • Medium: Glass; blown
  • Dimensions: H. 4 11/16 in. (11.9 cm)
  • Classification: Glass
  • Credit Line: Gift of Henry G. Marquand, 1881
  • Object Number: 81.10.60
  • Curatorial Department: Greek and Roman Art

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