Cup with Handlefirst half of 11th century

On view:

Geffen Galleries

Ancient glass cup with squat rounded body, frosted and iridescent from age, teal-green rim, and small strap handle with knobbed terminals

Blown glass cup with cylindrical form, nearly colorless with milky iridescence from weathering, a green-tinted rolled rim, and a small applied handle with knobbed terminals.

Title: Cup with Handle
Place Made: Eastern Mediterranean
Date Made: first half of 11th century
Medium: Glass, free-blown and tooled with applied thread and handle
Dimensions: 2 x 2 1/2 x 3 3/4 in. (5.08 x 6.35 x 9.53 cm)
Credit Line: The Madina Collection of Islamic Art, gift of Camilla Chandler Frost
Accession Number: M.2002.1.26
Classification: Glass
Collecting Area: Art of the Middle East: Islamic
Curatorial Notes: Just as today, glass was an important medium for producing tableware in the medieval Islamic world, especially for beverages. Due to its widespread use over time, including in the Late Antique period, glassware can be difficult to date. Certain features of this delicate handled cup, however, provide a key. The applied handle, with a convenient thumb rest and simple colored glass thread applied at the lip, link it to a cup discovered in the wreck of a trading ship that sank off the coast of southwest Turkey in the early eleventh century, providing an approximate time frame for our cup’s production. The rim is designed to catch drips, while the cup’s petite size suggests that it may have been intended for a beverage meant to be savored rather than gulped, perhaps one of the many types of wine known to have been made in this period.

2024
Selected Bibliography: Lo Terrenal y lo Divino: Arte Islámico siglos VII al XIX Colección del Museo de Arte del Condado de Los Ángeles. Santiago: Centro Cultural La Moneda, 2015.
Komaroff, Linda. Beauty and Identity: Islamic Art from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2016.
Komaroff, Linda, editor. Dining with the Sultan: The Fine Art of Feasting. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; New York: DelMonico Books, 2023.

Cup with Handlefirst half of 11th century

On view:

Geffen Galleries

Title: Cup with Handle
Place Made: Eastern Mediterranean
Date Made: first half of 11th century
Medium: Glass, free-blown and tooled with applied thread and handle
Dimensions: 2 x 2 1/2 x 3 3/4 in. (5.08 x 6.35 x 9.53 cm)
Credit Line: The Madina Collection of Islamic Art, gift of Camilla Chandler Frost
Accession Number: M.2002.1.26
Classification: Glass
Collecting Area: Art of the Middle East: Islamic
Curatorial Notes: Just as today, glass was an important medium for producing tableware in the medieval Islamic world, especially for beverages. Due to its widespread use over time, including in the Late Antique period, glassware can be difficult to date. Certain features of this delicate handled cup, however, provide a key. The applied handle, with a convenient thumb rest and simple colored glass thread applied at the lip, link it to a cup discovered in the wreck of a trading ship that sank off the coast of southwest Turkey in the early eleventh century, providing an approximate time frame for our cup’s production. The rim is designed to catch drips, while the cup’s petite size suggests that it may have been intended for a beverage meant to be savored rather than gulped, perhaps one of the many types of wine known to have been made in this period.

2024
Selected Bibliography: Lo Terrenal y lo Divino: Arte Islámico siglos VII al XIX Colección del Museo de Arte del Condado de Los Ángeles. Santiago: Centro Cultural La Moneda, 2015.
Komaroff, Linda. Beauty and Identity: Islamic Art from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2016.
Komaroff, Linda, editor. Dining with the Sultan: The Fine Art of Feasting. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; New York: DelMonico Books, 2023.