**First Time At Auction**

Roman, early Imperial Period, ca. 1st century BCE to 1st century CE. A beautiful bowl of a thick-walled composition made from pale aqua-hued glass with delicate, undulating ribbed walls. The base is slightly concave and forms a shallow kick in the middle of the shallow basin, and the rim projects upwards. This style of glass is known as "pillar-molded" as it refers to the production technique, where the shape of the bowl was determined by taking a flat sheet of pliable glass and placing it into a solid mold upside-down; this glass was then worked so that it slipped and sagged over the mold to create the exterior ribs. Bowls like this one were used as part of the Roman "cena," or dinner, perhaps for holding condiments like garum (fermented fish sauce). Note the stunning iridescence that naturally adorns the surface - a gorgeous souvenir from its epic journey through time and space! Size: 4.9" Diameter x 1.7" H (12.4 cm x 4.3 cm)

Most scholars agree, Roman glass was of the highest quality - both aesthetically and technically - among the ancients. While glass making had been practiced for centuries, glass blowing was invented in the Roman-controlled Holy Land in the 1st century BCE. This innovative technology revolutionized the artform. We can appreciate such a wide variety of forms and shapes, because the medium of glass has unique physical properties that make for so many more possibilities which would eventually replace a wide variety of pottery and metal wares in the ancient world. Roman glassmakers reached incredible artistic heights with both free-blown vessels and mold blown forms and decorations and were traded far beyond the Roman Empire. Roman glass vessels have been found in Scandinavia, India, and in Han Dynasty tombs in China.

Provenance: private New York, New York, USA collection; ex-private Hatfield, Massachusetts, USA collection, acquired from Greg Manning Galleries (formerly Harmer Rooke) absentee auction 800, March 26, 1996, part of lot 2111

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#176521

Professionally repaired with some minor areas of infill and small losses along break lines. Expected nicks and abrasions throughout, all commensurate with age. Beautiful iridescence to surface and pontil mark on underside of base. A pontil scar or mark indicates that a vessel was free-blown, while the absence of such a mark suggests that the work was either mold-blown or that the mark was intentionally smoothed away or wore away over time.