Cup in the Shape of the Head of an African Man

Place of OriginAncient Rome, probably Italy

DateSecond half of the 1st century CE

DimensionsH: 9.5 cm (3 3/4 in.); Rim Diam: 5.7 cm (2 1/4 in.)

MediumManganese-colored purple glass; blown in a full-size, three-part mold of two vertical sections and a disk-shaped base section

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.457

Not on View

DescriptionThis cup is made of transparent manganese-colored grayish red purple glass (5 RP 4/2). The rim was free-blown and ground, while the body was blown into a three-part mold (MCT VII A), with seams running along the sides of the face near the ears. The relief is crisp, and no pontil mark is visible. The form represents a male head on a sturdy neck, with a flaring rim and nearly circular flat base. The head displays a combination of frontal and profile views, with sharply modeled features: arched brows, narrow eyes, deep pouches, prominent cheeks and chin, broad nose, parted lips with teeth, and spherical earrings. Hair is arranged in vertical coils with four tiers at the back and short curls at the front. The head is crowned with a wreath of leaves and berries. On the base underside, a mold-blown design of three raised concentric circles surrounds a central dot. Faint ridges on the neck may represent a worn inscription.mold-blown cup, portrait vessel, head-shaped glass, three-part mold

Published ReferencesRichter, Gisela M.A., "The Curtis Collection of Ancient Glass," Art in America, vol. 2, 1914, p. 77, fig. 6.

Grose, David, "Ancient Glass," Toledo Museum of Art News, vol. no. 3, 1978, p. 82, fig. 19.

Stern, E. Marianne, Roman Mold-blown Glass, 1995, p. 219-220, no. 139, color pl. 21.

Reich, Paula, Toledo Museum of Art: map and guide, London, Scala, 2005, p. 10, repr. (col.).

Page, Jutta-Annette, The Art of Glass: Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio, Toledo Museum of Art, 2006, p. 40, fig. 13A, repr. (col.) p. 41.

Exhibition HistoryNew York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (while in Curtis Collection, per Richter 1914).