Cylindrical Beaker

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Object Name: 
Cylindrical Beaker
Accession Number: 
64.1.47
Dimensions: 
Overall H: 8.9 cm; Rim Diam: 6.3 cm
Location: 
On Display
Date: 
1-99
Primary Description: 
Cylindrical Beaker. Transparent pale topaz glass; mold-blown, two-part mold with separate base section. Cylindrical beaker; rim cracked off and roughly ground; straight side, tapering very slightly toward bottom; flat base. Body has two horizontal ribs above and three below; band is divided into two equal parts by stylized palm fronds, which serve to conceal mold seam, and is inscribed "EYΦPO/ ΣYNH" (Merriment) below band of herringbone motifs; between lower horizontal ribs and bottom; vine sprays, with stems bearing alternate leaves and bunches of grapes. On base, central ring and dot with two concentric raised rings.
Department: 
Provenance: 
Safani, Esteban, Source
1964
Category: 
Color: 
Technique: 
Material: 
Inscription: 
EYΦPO/ ΣYNH
inscription
Greek
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.
Wine: Celebration and Ceremony
Venue(s)
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum 1985-06-04 through 1985-10-13
 
Ennion and His Legacy: Mold-Blown Glass from Ancient Rome (Antiques and The Arts Weekly) (2015-07-10) illustrated, p. 9C (center row); BIB# AI100463
Roman Glass in The Corning Museum of Glass, Volume Two (2001) illustrated, pp. 25-26, pl. 490; BIB# 58895
Recent Important Acquisitions, 7 (1965) illustrated, pp. 120-121, #2; BIB# AI97743