Fragment of Hemispherical Bowl with Hunting Scene

Place of OriginAncient Rome

Date3rd-4th century CE

DimensionsL: 6 1/2 in. (16.5 cm); H: 2 1/2 in. (6.4 cm)

MediumGlass; blown; wheel engraved; Fabric: Medium thick glass. A few small spherical bubbles.

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.1888

Not on View

DescriptionTransparent to translucent natural grayish green (near 10 GY 5/2). 1923.1888, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey ACC NO. 1923.1883???? Free-blown. Exterior surface decoration intaglio wheel-cut with large shallow facets; the figural design was meant to be seen from the interior. Ground rim sloping downward and outward. Wide hemispherical bowl with convex base (the latter not preserved). Under the rim is a broad shallow wheel-cut band bordered above and below by a narrow wheel-cut band. Spread out over the whole surface of the bowl is a mixed hunting scene against a background of forest and rocks. The trees have straight trunks and large oval leaves, the rocks are indicated by clusters of three or four in a row above and below the first hound (2). The antlers and hindpart of a large animal fleeing toward the left (1) are preserved at the break, indicating that the main animal of the hunt was a stag (?). The animal is already wounded by at least two javelins sticking in his back and his flank. Two hounds attack him from behind, the one bitting his haunch (2), the other jumping up at the upper joint of his left hind leg (3). Below this scene a third hound to left (5) snaps at a hare (4) jumping away to the left in front of him. An unidentified object is in the lower right corner of the fragment.

Published ReferencesToledo Museum of Art, Art in Glass: A Guide to the Glass Collections, Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, 1969, p. 31.

Salomonson, Jan Willem, “Kunstgeschichtliche und ikonographische Untersuchungen zu einem Tonfragment der Sammlung Benaki in Athen,” Bulletin Antieke Beschaving, vol. 48, 1973, p. 50, fig. 37.

Caron, Beaudoin, “A Roman Figure-Engraved Glass Bowl,” Metropolitan Museum Journal, vol. 28, 1993, p. 54, n. 4.