Bowl (phiale)
Bowl (phiale)
Place of OriginWestern Asia, probably Persia or Ionia
DateLate fourth century BCE
DimensionsH: 4.1 cm (1 5/8 in.); Rim Diam: 17.3 cm (6 5/8 in.); Thickness: 0.3 cm (1/8 in.); Weight: 210.6 g (7.43 oz.)
MediumCast in a multipart mold, possibly by a cire perdue technique; rotary-polished on both surfaces; cut on the exterior.
ClassificationGlass
Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number
1979.74
Not on View
DescriptionBroad, shallow phiale. Colorless with slight yellowish tinge. Outsplayed rim with rounded edge; short outsplayed side; distinct carination separates the side from a shallow convex bottom. On the underside at the center of the bottom, a raised circular cut disk, polished flat; radiating out from the disk, a cut pattern of thirty-two elongated petals with rounded ends, each extending upward to a pronounced horizontal groove immediately below the junction of the side and bottom. Running the length of each petal, a shallow, cut median groove.
Label TextWhile the Egyptians treasured brilliantly colored glass vessels, the later Empires of Western Asia preferred the purity of colorless glass that imitated rock crystal. The highly refined shallow dish or phiale was used both to consume wine and to pour out offerings to the gods. This drinking vessel was probably cast in a multiple part mold over a lengthy period. Ground glass would have been continually added to fill the space as the glass melted and slowly filled in the mold. The exterior surface was then carefully relief-cut to form 32 petals.Published References1979 Annual Report, Toledo Museum of Art Museum News 21, 1979, p. 78, ill.
"Recent Important Acquisitions," Journal of Glass Studies 22, 1980, p. 88, fig. 1.
"Current Exhbitions, Midwest," Archaeology 33, July-August 1980, p. 3, ill.
Grose, David F., "The Origins and Early History of Glass," in The History of Glass, eds. Dan Klein and Ward Lloyd, London, 1984, p. 18, ill.
Grose, David F., "Innovation and Change in Ancient Technologies: The Anomalous Case of the Roman Glass Industry," in High-technology Ceramics, Westerville, OH, 1986, p. 67, fig. 2.
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. 34, p. 87, repr. (col.) p. 70.
Page, Jutta-Annette, The Art of Glass: Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH, Toledo Museum of Art, 2006, p. 20, repr. (col.) p. 21.
Probably first century BCE, possibly later
Mid-second to early first century BCE
Mid-second to early first century BCE
Mid-second to early first century BCE
Probably late first century BCE to early first century CE
2nd to mid-1st century BCE
Probably late first century BCE to early first century CE
Second to mid-first century BCE
Probably late first century BCE to early first century CE
Early first century CE
Early first century CE
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