Truncated Conical Beaker

Place of OriginAncient Rome, Western Mediterranean, perhaps Italy

DateSecond half of first century CE

DimensionsH: 5 11/16 in. (14.5 cm); Diam rim: 2 15/16 in. (7.5 cm); Max Diam: 2 5/16 in. (7.5 cm) ; Diam base: 1 9/16 in. (4.0 cm); Thickness rim: 1/16 in. (0.15 cm)

MediumMedium thin glass.

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.912

Not on View

DescriptionTransparent greenish gray tint (5G 6/1). Medium thin glass. Pinprick and small vertically elongated bubbles. Blown into a three-part mold with two vertical sections joined to a disk-shaped base section (MCT VII B). Vertical mold seams through battlement motif. Mold halves well aligned. Horizontal, unworked rim with slight bulge below. Tall truncated conical body. Slightly concave base. Below rim, two bands of fine wheel-cut incisions. On body, a mold-blown triple battlement motif of double lines bordered above by nine circular bosses with central depressions and below by eight similar bosses. In the space framed by the battlements, alternately a scallop between two oval bosses with central depressions and two asymmetrical leaf-shaped bosses with central depressions. On the underside of the base, a circular boss with a diameter of 1.5 cm surrounding a small central boss. Transparent greenish gray tint (5 G 6/1). Blown into a three-part mold with two vertical sections joined to a disk-shaped base section (MCT VII). Vertical mold seams through battlement motif. Mold halves well aligned. Horizontal, unworked rim with slight bulge below. Tall truncated conical body. Slightly concave base. Below rim, two bands of fine wheel-cut incisions. On body, a mold-blown triple battlement motif of double lines bordered above by nine circular bosses with central depressions and below by eight similar bosses. In the space framed by the battlements, alternately a scallop between two oval bosses with central depressions and two asymmetrical leaf-shaped bosses with central depressions. On the underside of the base, a circular boss with a diameter of 1.5 cm surrounding a small central boss.

Published ReferencesGrose, David F., "Ancient Glass," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News 20 (1978) p. 78, fig. 15.

Isings, Clasina, "Glass from the canabae legionis at Nijmegen," Berichten van de Rijksdienst voor het Oudheidkundig Bodemondersoek 30 (1980) mentioned by Isings, p. 331.

Berger, L., "Neufund eines Glasbechers der Form Isings 31," Gesellschaft pro Vindonissa. Jahresbericht (1981) 23-28, p. 24, n. 4, 26.

Saldern, Axel von, "Römische Hochschliffgläser," Jahrbüch Des Museums Für Kunst Und Gewerbe Hamburg, Bd. 4, 1985, p. 31, Abb. 12, p. 37.

Grose, David F., "Innovation and change in ancient technologies: The anomalous case of the Roman glass industry," in High-technology Ceramics, Westerville, OH, 1986, p. 77, fig. 17, p. 78.

Stern, E. Marianne, Roman Mold-Blown Glass: The First Through Sixth Centuries, Rome, Italy, "L'Erma" di Bretschneider in association with the Toledo Museum of Art, 1995, cat. no. 11, pp. 108-110, color pl. 4, p. 51.