Mosaic Bars

Place of OriginEgypt

DateThird to first century BCE

DimensionsH: 11/16 in. (1.8 cm); Max L: 1 5/16 in. (3.3 cm); W: 3/8 in. (0.9 cm)

MediumGlass; assembled from lengths of cane and cast; polished on the ends; side edges left slightly rough.

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.314

Not on View

DescriptionA pair of rectangular mosaic bars, each with half the face (or theatrical mask) of a woman or maenad. Opaque gray-blue ground with an opaque off-white face and an elaborate coiffure (presumably a wig) made of tiny dark blue spirals, dark blue cork-screw curls across the forehead, and longer dark blue sausage curls over the ears dropping to below shoulder level; the eyebrows, eyes, nose, and chin are outlined in dark blue, the mouth in opaque red; the almond-shaped eyes are opaque white with dark blue pupils; a wreath of ivy leaves, in an opaque yellow ground outlined in dark blue (apearing green), crowns the upper part of the head. The hair is adorned with an opaque red ribbon crossing the wig diagonally from the back and fastening at the forehead to a horizontal opaque yellow (representing gold) diadem decorated with alternating opaque red and green simulated gemstones; from the far edge of the diadem an opaque red ribbon (outlined in opaque white) loops downward over the hair. All surfaces are flat; uneven, rounded corner edges.

Published ReferencesRiefstahl, Rudolph M., "Ancient and Near Eastern Glass," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News 4, no. 2, 1961, p. 32.

Riefstahl, Rudolph M., "The Complexities of Ancient Glass,"Apollo 86, 1967, pp.432-433, fig. 14.

Labino, Dominick, Visual Art in Glass, Dubuque, IA, 1968, pp. 16-17, fig. 5.

Gunther, Charles F., "How Glass is Made," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News 15, no. 1, 1972, p. 16.

Grose, David F., Early Ancient Glass: Core-Formed, Rod-Formed, and Cast Vessels and Objects from the Late Bronze Age to the Early Roman Empire, 1600 B.C. to A.D. 50, New York, Hudson Hills Press in association with the Toledo Museum of Art, 1989, cat. no. 627, p. 362.

Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, The Mummies: From Egypt to Toledo, February 3- May 6, 2018.