- Title
- Amphora
- Date Made
- second or third quarter of the 1st century
- Medium
- Glass with splash decoration
- Dimensions
- 5 1/8 x 2 5/8 in. (13 x 6.7 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.88.129.41
- Collecting Area
- European Painting and Sculpture: Greek and Roman
- Curatorial Notes
This amphora, a miniature version of the two-handled ceramic vessels used to store oil and wine, likely served a cosmetic purpose, holding perfume or oil. It is made from pale purple glass with polychrome “splashed” decoration, and age has turned it slightly iridescent and frosted. The free-blowing technique was used to shape the vessel’s concave base, pear-shaped body, and tapered neck, where the glass was inflated by a blowpipe and shaped with tools. The handles were applied separately and feature several crimped extensions emanating from their ends.
The “splash” decoration effect is achieved by sprinkling or rolling bits of multicolored glass (here, turquoise blue, yellow, and white) onto a partially blown vessel. Further inflation of the vessel distends the molten fragments into drop-shaped splashes. This technique was especially popular in northern Italy and adjoining regions in modern-day Switzerland, though similar vessels have also been made in the eastern Mediterranean.
- Selected Bibliography
- Saldern, Axel von. Glass 500 B.C. to A.D. 1900: The Hans Cohn Collection. Mainz: Philipp von Zabern, 1980.
