Fragment of a shallow bowl: Christ giving the law to Sts. Peter and Paul

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Fragment of a shallow bowl: Christ giving the law to Sts. Peter and Paul

Place of OriginAncient Rome, probably made in Rome

DateMid- to late 4th century CE

DimensionsH: 2 5/16 in. (5.9 cm); Max Diam: 4 7/8 in. (12.4 cm)

MediumColorless glass; blown, gold leaf

ClassificationGlass

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

Object number

1967.12

Not on View

Collections

Glass

Published ReferencesMorey, C.R., The Gold-Glass Collection of the Vatican Library, 1959, no. 78 for a fragmentary parallel.

Riefstahl, Rudolf M., "The Complexities of Ancient Glass," Apollo, vol. 86, no. 70, Dec. 1967, p. 432, repr. (b&w), fig. 13, p. 433.

"Recent Important Acquisitions," Journal of Glass Studies, vol. XI, 1969, p. 111, repr. no. 14.

Toledo Museum of Art, "Treasures for Toledo," Museum News, New Series, vol. 12, no. 4, Winter 1969, repr.

Toledo Museum of Art, Art in Glass, A Guide to the Glass Collections, Toledo, 1969, repr. p. 29.

Grose, David, "Ancient Glass," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 20, no. 3, 1978, p. 86, repr. o. 26.

Grose, David, "The Origins and Early History of Glass," in The History of Glass, London, 1984, repr. (col.) p. 35.

Tsuchiya, Yoshio, Fantasy in Glass, Kyoto, Tankosha, 1997, p. 28, repr. [text in Japanese].

Page, Jutta-Annette, The Art of Glass: Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio, Toledo Museum of Art, 2006, repr. (col.) p. 42.

Noga-Banai, Galit, Sacred Stimulus: Jerusalem in the Visual Christianization of Rome, New York, Oxford University Press, 2018, p. xiii, 46, 52-53, pl. 2 (col.) p. 203.

Exhibition HistoryNew York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Age of Spirituality, 1977-8, no. 503, repr. p. 560 (cat. entr. by Margaret E. Frazier).

Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum, Picturing the Bible: The Earliest Christian Art, 2007-08, no. 65, pp. 114, 243, repr. (col.) p. 243.

Label TextGold glasses like the one on display would have adorned the bottom of cups and bowls that were probably used in ancient Roman funerary rituals. Although the scene depicted is Christian, similar objects have been found in Jewish and “pagan” contexts as well. The central figure is Christ, shown with a beard and short, cropped hair and standing atop a mound meant to symbolize Golgotha, the hill where he was crucified. Four streams, which allude to the four rivers of paradise, issue from the rocky outcrop. Dressed in a Greek chiton (tunic) and himation (cloak), Christ is flanked by his disciples Peter and Paul, to whom he offers an unfurled rotulus (scroll). The scroll reads “DOMINVS LEGE[M] DAT,” which translates to “the Lord giving the law.”