Fragment of Fish Plaque
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for Fragment of Fish Plaque
Fragment of Fish Plaque
Place of OriginEgypt
DateSecond century BCE to first century CE, possibly later
DimensionsH: 2 3/4 in. (7 cm); W: 2 3/4 in. (7 cm); Thickness: 5/16 in. (0.8 cm); Depth: 1/8 in. (0.3 cm)
Mediumglass
ClassificationGlass
Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number
1923.239
Not on View
DescriptionFragment of a fish plaque made from fused polychrome mosaic glass. The opaque dark turquoise-blue ground is inlaid with a design of a fish formed from tiny sections of colored glass canes, arranged while hot and pressed into the surface. The fish features gray-blue body coloring, brownish scales, a whitish belly, and a pale grayish-purple tail with eighteen parallel dark purple streaks. The dorsal fin includes grayish-green, pale yellow, and opaque red vertical streaks. Vestiges of yellow and green scales with red centers are visible on the body. The inlay is limited to the top surface and does not extend through the thickness of the plaque. The upper surface is flat and polished, while the underside is flat but uneven and rough.
Published ReferencesWeinberg, Gladys Davidson, "An Inlaid Glass Plate in Athens, Part I," Journal of Glass Studies, 4, 1962, p. 34, fig. 9.
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. 654, p. 367.
Second century BCE to first century CE, possibly later
about 1500
Mid- to second half of the first century
Probably second half of the first century
Second century BCE to first century CE, possibly later
3rd-4th century CE
Third to first century BCE
Mid-first century or earlier
Early to mid-first century CE
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