Roman, Late Imperial to early Byzantine period, ca. 5th to 7th century CE. A stunning and delicate yellow-green glass pouring vessel with a concave base and rough pontil scar, hexagonal body, a plateaued shoulder, a tubular neck, and an in-folded rim. A gently-curving trail handle joins both rim and shoulder with a sinuous excess trail coiling around the midpoint of the neck. The body exhibits six relief-molded panels with three pairs of matching patterns in a dense lattice, diamond forms with central circles, and stalky palm fronds. The vessel's yellow-green coloration imbues it with a calming presentation evocative of a natural landscape, and is nicely complemented by thick areas of fiery rainbow-hued iridescence. Size: 3.375" W x 5.3" H (8.6 cm x 13.5 cm).

Ancient glass manufacture had begun in the 2nd millennium BCE in Mesopotamia and Egypt. The Greeks and Phoenicians advanced glass technology greatly in the latter 1st millennium BCE. In the early 1st century CE, Roman workshops began producing blown glass on a large scale. Eventually glass vessels came to replace a wide variety of pottery and metal wares in the ancient world. Ancient Roman glass was traded far beyond the Roman Empire. Roman glass vessels have been found in Scandinavia, India, and in Han Dynasty tombs in China.

For a similar example of pattern-molded designs in a different color, please see The Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number X.243: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/256767

Provenance: private East Coast, USA collection

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#133181

Surface wear and abrasions commensurate with age as expected, with some flaking to iridescence, otherwise intact and near-choice. Nice earthen deposits as well as rainbow iridescence throughout.