Roman Glass Pale Blue Aryballos

£ 425.00

A Roman translucent pale blue coloured Aryballos glass jar. The vessel features a globular body with flat base leading to a short neck extending into a flat, wide everted rim. The vessel still displays its original translucency, some beautiful silvery iridescence and some earthly encrustations to the surface and inside.

Date: Circa 2nd – 3rd Century AD
Provenance: From the collection of a Japanese gentleman, deceased (1970-2010); collected in the 1990s.
Condition: Very fine, complete and intact.

SOLD

Glass was often the preferred material for storing expensive oils, perfumes, and medicines because it was not porous. The small body and mouth allowed the user to carefully pour and control the amount of liquid dispensed. By the 1st century AD, the technique of glass-blowing had revolutionised the art of glass-making. This new technique allowed craftsmen to use smaller amounts of glass for each vessel and obtain much thinner walls, enabling the creation of small medicine, incense, and perfume containers moulded into new forms. These small glass bottles are found frequently at Hellenistic and Roman sites, especially in cemeteries, and the liquids which filled them would have been gathered from all corners of the expansive Roman Empire.

The iridescence on ancient Roman glass was unintentional, caused by weathering on its surface. The extent to which a glass object weathers depends mainly on the burial conditions; however, the humidity, heat, and type of soil in which the glass was buried also all affect its preservation.

To find out more about Roman glass please see our relevant blog post: Collecting Roman Glass.

Weight 96 g
Dimensions H 11 cm
Culture

Glass

Region

Reference: For a similar item please see The Metropolitan Museum of Art, item 74.51.139