Engraved Beaker with Lazarus and Moses Scenes

Place of OriginGermany, likely Cologne

Date4th century CE

DimensionsH: 4 7/16 in. (11.3 cm); Rim Diam: 4 3/8 in. (11.1 cm); Max Rim Thickness: 1/16 in. (0.2 cm)

MediumTransparent, decolorized glass; wheel- and facet-cut engraving

ClassificationGlass

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1948.14

Not on View

DescriptionThe beaker is made from transparent, decolorized glass with a very slight grayish yellow-green tinge (Munsell 6 GY 7/2). It is free-blown and lacks a pontil mark. The body is thin and contains a few small spherical bubbles. The form is conical with straight sides tapering toward a concave base, and it has a ground horizontal rim. The exterior is decorated with a wheel-cut and facet-cut figural scene framed above by one broad and one narrow horizontal band and below by two medium bands. The figural zone features four human figures alternating with trees and a single rock. From right to left, the scenes depict Christ raising Lazarus, Moses striking water from a rock, and a third unidentified figure holding a rod, all similarly posed.

Label TextThis engraved Roman glass beaker, made in the Rhineland region of Germany during the 4th or 5th century CE, is a rare example of Early Christian art rendered in luxury tableware. Made from transparent, pale greenish glass, it was free-blown and intricately decorated using wheel-cut engraving, a signature technique of Late Roman glassmakers active in the Cologne-Bonn region. The figures were engraved using copper wheels and coarse abrasives. Fine details like facial features and staffs were cut with a narrow wheel edge, while broader areas such as limbs and garments were formed using the full surface of a wider, rounded wheel. Around the conical body, three biblical scenes unfold in a continuous frieze, separated by stylized trees and rock formations. On the right, Jesus Christ is shown performing the miracle of the raising of Lazarus (John 11), extending a rod toward the bound figure of Lazarus emerging from the tomb. In the center, Moses strikes water from a rock to provide for the Israelites (Exodus 17). A third figure, identically posed and holding a rod, may represent another act of divine power or serve as a symbolic repetition of the miracle-worker motif. This vessel belongs to a group of at least eighteen Late Roman beakers decorated with engraved figural panels. Known as the “Fremersdorf group,” eleven of these were found, or likely found, in Cologne, suggesting production in a specialized workshop there. The Toledo beaker closely parallels a similar example in the British Museum (inv. no. 1872,0320.1), which was discovered in a sarcophagus belonging to a Christian burial near the church of St. Severin in Cologne. While the precise findspot of the Toledo beaker is unknown, it may have originated from a comparable funerary setting, possibly also from a sarcophagus.Published ReferencesHaberey, Waldemar. “Frühchristliche Gläser aus dem Rheinland = Verres des premiers temps de la chrétienté en Rhénanie = Glasses in Early Christian Times in the Rhineland,” Comptes rendus du VIIe Congrès international du Verre, Bruxelles, 28 juin–3 juillet 1965, vol. II, Charleroi, Institut National du Verre, 1965, p. 249.1, repr. fig. 10.

Grose, David, "Ancient Glass," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 20, no. 3, 1978 p. 85, repr. fig. 25. Harden, Donald B. Glass of the Caesars, Milan, Olivetti, 1987, p. 233.

Nagel, Stefanie. Die figürlich gravierten Gläser der Spätantike: Archäometrische und archäologische Untersuchungen, Regensburg, Schnell & Steiner, 2020, pp. 251-252, no. 207.