Originally listed at $500...

Roman or Egyptian, late Ptolemaic to early Roman period, ca. 1st century BCE to 3rd century CE. A lovely shard of opaque red paste glass displaying a millefiori flower pattern made with cobalt, white, and gray canes. The millefiori or mosaic technique resulted in glass that Pliny the elder described as "eyes" due to the repeating multi-colored motif across the surface. This piece may have been part of a vessel at one point, and this fragment was collected in modern times and set into a 51% gold (equivalent to 12K+) setting as a wearable pendant and strung on a modern cord as a necklace. Size of pendant: 1" L x 0.375" W (2.5 cm x 1 cm); cord: 21" L (53.3 cm); gold quality: 51% (equivalent to 12K+); weight: 2.1 grams

Egyptian paste glass was invented approximately 7,000 years ago. It is a material containing very little or no clay but can be modeled, carved, or pressed into molds. Red paste glass was some of the most beautiful and highly desired material used for commissioning both everyday items as well as elaborate funerary offerings. According to authors E. Marianne Stern and Birgit Schlick-Nolte, "The earliest datable glass examples are the fragments of two opaque red bowls found in a royal tomb dated ca. 20 B.C. at Meroe, Sudan . . . [and that] Opaque red glass was notoriously difficult to make and to form into objects because it turns black or green if it is melted in an oxidizing atmosphere." (Stern, E. Marianne and Birgit Schlick-Nolte. "Early Glass of the Ancient World: 1600 B.C. - A.D. 50 | Ernesto Wolf Collection." Verlag Gerd Hatje, Germany, 1994, p. 328)

Provenance: private New York, New York, USA collection; ex-Kathe Hartmann collection, Geneva, Switzerland, ca 1912 to 1954

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#174670

Minor nicks to glass surface, otherwise intact. Set in a modern gold pendant setting and strung on a modern cord as a wearable necklace.