Cameo Glass Fragment with Two Bearded Dionysiac Figures
Cameo Glass Fragment with Two Bearded Dionysiac Figures
Place of OriginRome
Date1st century CE
DimensionsW: 1 1/8 in. (2.9 cm); L: 1 3/4 in. (2.9 cm)
MediumCameo glass.
ClassificationGlass
Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number
1923.1540
Not on View
DescriptionThis is a curved fragment from a Roman cameo glass vessel. The design is executed in thin opaque white relief, measuring less than 0.1 cm in depth, layered over a translucent light blue ground. The composition features two bearded male figures. On the right, a man is depicted in three-quarter view. He wears a fillet in his hair and holds a thyrsos, a staff associated with Dionysos. His muscular torso is carefully modeled despite the shallow depth of the carving. On the left, another bearded male figure is shown nude and frontal, reclining in a pose commonly associated with Dionysiac imagery.
Label TextThis exceptional fragment from a Roman cameo glass vessel shows two male figures in white over a translucent blue background. The bearded man at right holds a thyrsos—a staff topped with a pinecone—marking him as a follower of Dionysos. His lifelike pose and high-quality modeling recall works like the Portland Vase. The man at left, also bearded, is shown frontally and in a reclining pose. The cameo glass technique involved layering colored glass to create imagery in relief.Published ReferencesSturgis, Russell, “The Coleman Collection of Antique Glass,” The Century Magazine, vol. 48, 1894, p. 557, fig. 13.
Gazda, Elaine K., ed., The Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii: Ancient Ritual, Modern Muse, Ann Arbor, Kelsey Museum of Archaeology and University of Michigan Museum of Art, 2000, pp. 220-221, no. 86.
Exhibition HistoryAnn Arbor, Kelsey Museum of Archeology and the University of Michigan Museum of Art, The Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii: Ancient Ritual, Modern Muse, 2000, no. 86, pp. 220-1, repr.1st century CE
Mid- to late 4th century CE
1st-2nd century CE
2nd-1st century B.C.E.
2nd - 1st century BCE
1st-2nd century CE
Membership
Become a TMA member today
Support TMA
Help support the TMA mission