Cup

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Object Name: 
Cup
Accession Number: 
70.1.29
Dimensions: 
Overall H: 9.6 cm, Diam (max): 8.2 cm; Across Handles W: 14 cm
Location: 
On Display
Date: 
50-1 BCE
Primary Description: 
Cup. Translucent deep blue glass; cast and lathe-cut. Semi-ovoid body; rim ground and polished with single lathe-cut groove on interior; side curves inward to form semi-ovoid body; lathe-cut stem consisting of two concave-profiled spindles separated by thin disc; solid foot which splays into circular disc with raised rectangular-profiled band near edge and concavity on underside. Two vertical handles at rim, each with long horizontal thumb rest with concave sides; exterior surface of finger hole has angular offset ridge, while underside of lower rest is beveled along axis. On either side of handles, rim has projecting scrolls.
Department: 
Provenance: 
Hambuechen, James E., Source
1970
Vogell, Arnold (German, 1857-1911), Former Collection
1908-05
Hackl, Rudolph, Former Collection
Category: 
Color: 
Material: 
Venue(s)
Metropolitan Museum of Art 2014-12-09 through 2015-04-13
Corning Museum of Glass 2015-05-16 through 2016-01-04
At the end of the first century B.C., glassmakers working in the environs of Jerusalem made a revolutionary breakthrough in the way glass was made. They discovered that glass could be inflated at the end of a hollow tube. This technical achievement—glassblowing—made the production of glass vessels much quicker and easier, and allowed glassmakers to develop new shapes and decorative techniques. One technique, inflating glass in molds carved with decorative and figural designs, was used to create multiple examples of a variety of vessel shapes with high-relief patterns. The molds used to shape this ancient glass were complex in their design, and the mold-blown glass vessels of ancient Rome tell a wealth of stories about the ancient world, from gladiators to perfume vessels, from portraits of a Roman empress to oil containers marked with the image of Mercury, Roman god of trade. Among the earliest workshops to design and create mold-blown glass was one in which a man named Ennion worked. Ennion was the first glassmaker to sign his glass objects by incorporating his name into the inscriptions that formed part of the mold’s design, and thus he stands among a small group of glass workers whose names have come down to us from antiquity. On view through January, 4, 2016, Ennion and His Legacy, is composed of mold-blown master works by Ennion and other Roman glassmakers. The works are drawn from the Corning Museum’s collection of Roman glass, one of the finest in the world. Within the larger exhibit is a smaller exhibit organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Ennion: Master of Roman Glass, which focuses specifically on works made by Ennion. Composed of loans from a number of international institutions and private collections this exhibit within an exhibit brings together many of the known examples of Ennion’s wares and will be on view through October 19, 2015.
Glass of the Caesars
Venue(s)
British Museum 1987-11-18 through 1988-03-06
Romisch-Germanisches Museum 1988-04-15 through 1988-10-18
Musei Capitolini 1988-11-03 through 1989-01-31
Corning Museum of Glass
 
Offene Glasgefässe der frühen römischen Kaiserzeit: Untersuchungen zu Vorbildern und Imitationen in der Keramik und Toreutik (2015) illustrated, p. 26 (Abb. 9); BIB# 144513
The Corning Museum of Glass, Curators' Choice (1995) illustrated, #3; BIB# 36655
Glass Of The Roman Empire (1988) illustrated, pp. 10-11, fig. 1; pp. 6, 9; BIB# 32608
Glass of the Caesars (1987) illustrated, p. 38, #14; BIB# 31831
Wine Tastes Its Best . . . (1985-11-17) p. 1, section D;
Some Pieces You Should See in The Corning Museum of Glass (1984) illustrated, p. 39, fig. 1;
Pre-Roman and Early Roman Glass in The Corning Museum of Glass (1979) illustrated, pp. 140-141, #290, pl. 18, 39; BIB# 29547
Recent Important Acquisitions, 13 (1971) illustrated, pp. 134-135, #3; BIB# AI93175
Late Hellenistic Glass in the Metropolitan Museum (1967) illustrated, p. 31, #27-29;