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Section of Mosaic Cane

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Section of Mosaic Cane
Image Not Available for Section of Mosaic Cane

Section of Mosaic Cane

Place of OriginEgypt
DateThird to first century BCE
DimensionsH: 1/2 in. (1.3 cm); W: 3/8 in. (1 cm); Thickness: 1/8 in. (0.3 cm)
MediumFused polychrome mosaic glass; assembled from sections of cane and cast; polished; edges roughly polished.
ClassificationGlass
Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number
1923.298
Not on View
DescriptionBaboon design. Dark blue ground with the figure of the Egyptian deity Thoth as a seated baboon at the center, in profile facing right, with an opaque red sun disk, partly outlined in opaque white, above his head and with an upright opaque white feather staff or branch held in his forepaws. The head, hindquarters, and legs are opaque celadon green with a circular opaque red dot on the upper thigh; the features of the head are opaque red with blue details; the fur on the back of the head is suggested by thin blue lines. The chest and abdomen are composed of tiny polygonal canes, each in a blue ground with short parallel lines of opaque yellow, again imitating the fur of the animal. Upper- and undersides flat; rough vertical edges. Section of rectangular mosaic cane.
Published ReferencesGrose, 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. 631, p. 362-363.
Head and hindquarters: early 20th century; Body: probably 7th-1st century CE
Mosaic Bars
3rd to 1st century BCE
Fragment of Bowl
Probably first century BCE, possibly later
Bottle
Early to mid-first century CE
Scarab
Ptolemaic Period
about 50 BCE-50 CE
Portrait Mask of a Mummified Young Man
Roman Period (1st to 4th century CE)

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