Cup in the Shape of the Head of an African Man

Place of OriginAncient Rome, probably Italy

DateSecond half of the 1st century CE

DimensionsH: 9.5 cm (3 3/4 in.); Rim Diam: 5.7 cm (2 1/4 in.)

MediumManganese-colored purple glass; blown in a full-size, three-part mold of two vertical sections and a disk-shaped base section

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.457

Not on View

DescriptionTransparent manganese colored grayish red purple (5 RP 4/2). Rim free blown. Body blown into a three-part mold of two vertical sections and a disk-shaped base section (MCT VII A). Mold seams on either side of the face along the two locks in front of the ear. Relief crisp. No pontil mark. Flaring rim. Rim ground. Body in the shape of a head on a sturdy neck. Flaring, nearly circular flat base with decoration on the underside. Body in the shape of a male head with African features wearing a wreath. The childlike profile contrasts surprisingly with the frontal view, which shows a broad square face with a grim expression: knit brow, eyebrows arched high over narrow eyes with small round pupils, eyelids modeled with deep pouches under the eyes, fleshy dimpled cheeks with the underlying bone structure strongly represented, wide flat nose, half-open mouth with a pronounced upper lip and visible teeth, dimpled chin. Decorative crescent-shaped ears with a groove along the center. Spherical earrings dangle from the lobes on both sides. The thick coils of hair, carefully aligned vertically to make a decorative pattern. There are approximately eleven short curls over the forehead and two in front of each ear. There are four tiers of curls on the back of the head. The wreath, tied at the back of the head, consists of leaves and berries. On underside of base, mold-blown design of three raised concentric circles with a raised dot at the center. A series of indistinct raised ridges on the front of the neck may be the remains of a mold-blown inscription.

Published ReferencesRichter, Gisela M.A., "The Curtis Collection of Ancient Glass," Art in America, vol. 2, 1914, p. 77, fig. 6.

Grose, David, "Ancient Glass," Toledo Museum of Art News, vol. no. 3, 1978, p. 82, fig. 19.

Stern, E. Marianne, Roman Mold-blown Glass, 1995, p. 219-220, no. 139, color pl. 21.

Reich, Paula, Toledo Museum of Art: map and guide, London, Scala, 2005, p. 10, repr. (col.).

Page, Jutta-Annette, The Art of Glass: Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio, Toledo Museum of Art, 2006, p. 40, fig. 13A, repr. (col.) p. 41.

Exhibition HistoryNew York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (while in Curtis Collection, per Richter 1914).