Roman, Imperial Period, ca. 3rd to 4th century CE. A gorgeous, hand-blown flask formed from a translucent, verdant green glass. The vessel is defined by a concave base and smooth pontil scar, a cylindrical body, a rounded shoulder tracing up to a pinched neck base, a tall neck with an out-folded rib near the top, and a rolled rim. The midsection of the body flaunts eight pinched tabs with applied glass arches stemming across the top and inverted parabolic ribs drooping below. The middle of the neck also boasts an undulating trail of applied glass which gives the appearance of a frilled collar. Enveloped in thin silver and rainbow iridescence, this is a stunning example of exceptional glass-working prowess! Size: 2.25" W x 6.875" H (5.7 cm x 17.5 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.

Published in "Solid Liquid: Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Islamic Glass." Fortuna Fine Arts, Ltd., New York, 1999, p. 90, fig. 161.

Provenance: private East Coast, USA collection

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#135596

Surface wear and minor abrasions commensurate with age, very minor nicks to rim and some applied trail decorations, and light roughness along neck and rim, otherwise intact and excellent. Nice earthen deposits as well as silver and rainbow iridescence throughout.