Roman, late Republic to early Imperial Period, ca. late 1st century BCE to early 1st century CE. A thickly-ribbed bowl in pale, aqua-colored glass. It is mold-made, cast in a shallow phiale-like form, with a slight concave base and fourteen thick, radiating ribs around the base which terminate just below the smooth rim. Both the interior and exterior are covered in fiery areas of silvery and rainbow-hued iridescence. This style of glass is known as "pillar-molded," referring 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 was slipped/sagged over the mold to create the ribs on the exterior. Bowls like this one were used as part of the Roman "cena," or dinner, probably for holding condiments like garum (fish sauce). Size: 6.875" Diameter x 2.75" H (17.5 cm x 7 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.

For a similar example, please see The Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 81.10.39: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/245196

Provenance: private East Coast, USA collection

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#134727

Vessel repaired from several large pieces with some small chips and light adhesive residue along break lines. Surface wear and minor abrasions commensurate with age, small nicks to rim and some ribs, and light roughness across most surfaces. Light earthen deposits as well as nice silver and rainbow iridescence throughout.