Fragment of Bowl with Hunting Scene

Place of OriginRoman Empire, possibly Italy

Date4th 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

DescriptionClear, colorless glass with a slight greenish-gray nuance (near 10 GY 5/2). The glass fabric is medium-thick with a few small spherical bubbles and exhibits spiral-shaped striae (cord) due to inhomogeneity. The exterior surface decoration is wheel-cut with large shallow facets, with the figural design intended to be viewed from the interior. The ground rim slopes downward and outward. Slightly less than half of the wide hemispherical bowl is preserved; the convex base is missing. Below the knocked-off and ground rim run three parallel, shallow wheel-cut grooves. Spread over the preserved exterior wall is a hound-hunting scene set against a landscape of stylized trees with straight trunks and large oval leaves, interspersed with rock formations. The preserved scene depicts three hounds hunting a stag and a hare. The stag, fleeing toward the left, is partially preserved at the break (antlers and hindquarters) and has already been struck by at least two javelins in its back and flank. Two hounds attack the stag from behind: one bites its haunch, while the other jumps at the upper joint of the left hind leg. Below this sequence, a third hound snaps at a hare leaping away to the left. An unidentified object rests in the lower right corner of the fragment. The missing half of the bowl presumably depicted the hunter(s).

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.

Nagel, Stefanie. Die figürlich gravierten Gläser der Spätantike: Archäometrische und archäologische Untersuchungen, Regensburg, Schnell & Steiner, 2020, pp. 106, no. 75.