Cup with Gladiators

Object Name: 
Cup with Gladiators

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Object Name: 
Cup with Gladiators
Place Made: 
Accession Number: 
54.1.84
Dimensions: 
Overall H: 7.1 cm, Rim Diam: 7.5 cm
Location: 
On Display
Date: 
25-75
Primary Description: 
Cup with Gladiators. Transparent light yellow-green glass; mold-blown, cracked-off, ground. Cylindrical cup; rim very slightly everted, ground; vertical side, tapering at bottom; flat base. Mold-blown decoration; on body, two friezes, each with horizontal rib at bottom: (a) narrow, with inscription in relief "SPICVLVS COLVMBVS CALAMVS HOLES/PETRAITES PRVDES PROCVLVS COCVMBVS; (b) pairs of gladiators, fighting: Spiculus standing, Columbus on ground; Calamus and Holes fighting; Petraites and 'Prudes' fighting ('Prudes' loses his shield); Proculus defeats Cocumbus and holds victor's palm frond; on base, two concentric circles in relief.
Department: 
Provenance: 
Gourraud, Mr., Former Collection
Hubin, Former Collection
1872
to
1872
Smith, Ray Winfield (American, 1897-1982), Source
1954-10-11
Category: 
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
 
Glass from the Ancient World
Venue(s)
Corning Museum of Glass 1957-06-04 through 1957-09-15
Ancient Art in American Private Collections
Venue(s)
Fogg Art Museum 1954
 
Exposition des Beaux-Arts : Archeologie et Peinture Ancienne
Venue(s)
Nantes Museum 1872 through 1872
Title Unknown (Nantes)
 
Ancient and Islamic Glass: Selections from the Corning Museum of Glass (2019) illustrated, pp. 56-57;
The Techniques of Renaissance Venetian Glassworking (2016) illustrated, Fig. 7; BIB# 149619
Theater and Spectacle in the Art of the Roman Empire (2016) illustrated, p. 188 (fig. 7.14); BIB# 149496
Mould-Blown Glass from Ancient Rome (2015-07) illustrated, p. 14 (bottom); BIB# AI100202
Ennion and His Legacy: Mold-Blown Glass from Ancient Rome (The Gather) (2015) illustrated, p. 6 (bottom);
Accepi Ramum: Gladiatorial Palms and the Chavagnes Gladiator Cup (2009-06) illustrated, plate XIII, between p. 440-441; BIB# 112084
Accepi remum: Gladiatorial Palms and the Chavagnes Gladiatorial Cup (2009-06) illustrated, between p.440 and 441;
Antikes Glas (Handbuch der Archaologie) (2004) illustrated, p. 288-605 (Taf. 246); BIB# 83444
Richards Complete Bible Dictionary (2002) illustrated, p. 270 (top center); BIB# 73428
Roman Glass in The Corning Museum of Glass, Volume Two (2001) illustrated, pp. 60-62, pl. 532; BIB# 58895
Les verres romains a scenes de spectacles trouves en France (1998) illustrated, p. 132, 149, pl. 5, 9, no. 74; BIB# 90749
The Boudican Uprising and the Glass Vessels from Colchester (1996) illustrated, p. 61, fig. 14; title page;
All About Glass = Garasu Daihyakka (1993) p. 12; BIB# 36566
The Revell Bible dictionary (1990) illustrated, p. 270 (top center); BIB# 65501
Glass of the Caesars (1987) illustrated, p. 169, #90; BIB# 31831
Title Unknown (Glaswelt) (1958-06-11) pp. 10-16;
Glas (1958) illustrated, pp. 12, 191-192; p. 12, fig. 11; BIB# 25567
Glass from the Ancient World: The Ray Winfield Smith Collection (1957) illustrated, pp. 59-60, #73; BIB# 27315
5000 Years of Glassmaking (1954) pl. X; BIB# 27771
La verrerie en Gaule sous l’Empire romain (1922-1923) p. 190; BIB# 34069
Das Glas im Altertume (III) (1908) vol. III, p. 735 ff.; BIB# 27426
Verres a Course de Char (1893)
Historie de l'Art de la Verrerie dans l'antiquite (1873) p. 42 ff., pl. XLIX; BIB# 27942
Histoire de l’art de la verrerie dans l’antiquité (1873) p. 42 ff., pl XLIX; BIB# 27942
Exposition des Beaux - Arts: Archeologie et Peinture Ancienne (1872) p. 131, #66;
Miscellanea vetraria (1865) pp. 305-310, pl. XX;
Notice sur un verre a boire antique trouve dans la Vendee (1860) 15 p.;