Head

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Object Name: 
Head
Place Made: 
Accession Number: 
55.1.63
Dimensions: 
Overall W: 20.3 cm, D: 12.5 cm
Location: 
On Display
Date: 
699-600 BCE (possibly later)
Primary Description: 
Opaque red glass with thick weathering crusts of green, brown and black, inlays of opaque white and opaque medium deep blue; cast and mosaic glass or millefiori technique. Single cast element of red glass now broken into three parts, head facing right, flat rectangular peg on top of inlay provided centering mechanism for a crown (not a wig) as determined by the arc shaped cut-out immediately above and behind the ear. Both eye and eyebrow have a medium deep blue glass backing inlaid with a trail of white, pupil and iris now missing, a break running from the back of the eyebrow down the back of the neck forming a gentle S-curve with the line of the neck, this roughly rectangular piece retains the ear modeled in high relief and set at an angle almost perpendicular to the vertical axis of the head; a second break runs along a gentle arc from the upper lip across the face, along which the thick weathering crust is broken away revealing the red glass beneath, this break divides the face roughly in half, below it the lower lip is badly cracked and weathered, the chin curves in and down to substantial wide but long neck with a roughly rectangular tang for centering insertion into a torso.
Department: 
Provenance: 
Smith, Ray Winfield (American, 1897-1982), Source
1955-09-09
Glass from the Ancient World
Venue(s)
Corning Museum of Glass 1957-06-04 through 1957-09-15
Verres Antiques de la Collection R.W. Smith
Venue(s)
Musee de Mariemont 1954 through 1954
 
Antikes Glas aus der Sammlung Ray Winfield Smith: Kurpfalzischen Museum Heidelberg
Venue(s)
Kurpfalzischen Museum 1952-11 through 1953
Antikes Glas aus der Sammlung Ray Winfield Smith
Venue(s)
Museum Dahlem 1951-09 through 1951-11
 
Antikes Glas (Handbuch der Archaologie) (2004) illustrated, p. 96 (Taf. 87); BIB# 83444
Chemical Analyses of Early Glasses (Volume 1) (1999) pp. 39, 249, 251; BIB# 61154
Pre-Roman and Early Roman Glass in The Corning Museum of Glass (1979) illustrated, pp. 88-89, #166, pl. 10; BIB# 29547
History Revealed in Ancient Glass (1964-09) illustrated, p. 362; BIB# AI46886
Ancient Glass at Corning (1962) p. 27, #1, ill. opp. p. 25; BIB# AI58241
Glass from the Ancient World: The Ray Winfield Smith Collection (1957) illustrated, pp. 32-33, #32; BIB# 27315
Catalogue des Verres Antiques de la Collection Ray Winfield Smith (1954) illustrated, p. 13, #18, pl. 1; BIB# 28196
Antikes Glas aus der Sammlung Ray Winfield Smith (Heidelberg) (1952) illustrated, pp. 4-5 (#2); BIB# 31788
Neue Zeitung (1951-10-24) ill.;
Der Tag (1951-09-02)