Mosaic Glass Bowl

Notice of Upcoming Content and Access Change

The Museum is working on the future of our online collections access. A new version will be available later in 2023. During this transition period, the current version of the Collections Browser may have reduced functionality and data may be not be updated. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. For any questions or concerns, please contact us.

What is AAT?

The Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT) (r) is a structured vocabulary for generic concepts related to art and architecture. It was developed by The Getty Research Institute to help research institutions become consistent in the terminology they use.Learn More

Object Name: 
Mosaic Glass Bowl
Accession Number: 
55.1.2
Dimensions: 
Overall H: 7.4 cm, Rim Diam (max): 12.3 cm
Location: 
On Display
Date: 
125-1 BCE
Web Description: 
Perhaps the most famous Hellenistic mosaic glass vessels are hemispherical bowls made of polychrome canes with spiral or star designs. The bowls were probably formed by fusing slices of the canes into a disk and slumping the disk over a mold. Most of these objects have rims that were fashioned by spirally twisting threads of different colors to produce a striped effect. Later, this technique was employed in Roman workshops. The earliest of the Hellenistic hemispherical bowls may have been made in the second half of the third century B.C., but most were produced a century later. The source of these colorful bowls is unknown. They have been found in many locations, including Greece, Italy, Egypt, and Syria. Mosaic glass bowls were a typical product of glass workshops in the eastern Mediterranean, and this example may well have been made there.
Department: 
Provenance: 
Smith, Ray Winfield (American, 1897-1982), Source
1955-04-19
Primary Description: 
Mosaic Glass Bowl. Glass star canes of translucent purple centers surrounded by opaque white with opaque yellow radiating lines in a translucent greenish-blue matrix alternate with star canes of translucent green centers surrounded by opaque yellow with radiating lines of opaque white in a translucent purple field, some pitting with light iridescence in these areas; fused, assembled, sagged, polished. Deep hemispherical bowl; rounded rim, finished with thick cane in translucent greenish-blue spirally wound with opaque yellow forming a flat base with two lightly cut concentric circles decorating the base. (b) Lid, ground rim, cylindrical form with rounded shoulder, small solid cylindrical handle in center of top with shallow lathe-cut circle decoration.
Treasures in Glass
Venue(s)
Allentown Art Museum 1966 through 1966
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
Ancient and Islamic Glass: Selections from the Corning Museum of Glass (2019) illustrated, covers, pp. 5, 48-49;
Tiffany's Glass Mosaics (2017) illustrated, p. 22, fig. 1.5;
Pergamon and the Hellenistic kingdoms of the ancient world (2016) illustrated, p. 259; BIB# 144264
Glass: Virtual, Real (2016) illustrated, p. 116 (top); BIB# 167899
A New Nilotic Bowl at The Corning Museum of Glass (2015) illustrated, p. 74; BIB# 705278
Kiln Forming Glass (2010) illustrated, p. 17; BIB# 110657
Die nicht-geblasenen antiken Glasgefasse (2009) illustrated, p. 41; BIB# 110654
Liu li: Nü wa de yi zhen (2008) illustrated, p. 120; BIB# 167237
Shades of Glass (2006) illustrated, p. 16, center left; BIB# 100967
Venetian Beads, Mosaic Glass and Murrine (2003) illustrated, p. 6; p. 8, fig. 1; BIB# 77248
The Techniques of Mosaic Glass, Millefiori and ... Filligree (2001) illustrated, pp. 24-25 (no. 7); BIB# AI53883
First Glass (2001) illustrated, pp. 6-7;
The Techniques of Mosaic Glass, Millefiori and . . . Filligree (2001) illustrated, pp. 24-25, #7;
Beauty of Glass (2000) illustrated, p. 49 (top); BIB# 77736
Cambridge Latin Course: Book II (2000) p. 106; BIB# 64896
Glass: an artist's medium (1998) illustrated, p. 76; BIB# 60085
Lobmeyr 1823: Helles Glas un klares Licht (1998) illustrated, p. 191; BIB# 58172
Garasu no Hanashi (1988) p. 70; BIB# 45725
Book of Glass (1986) p. 113;
Pre-Roman and Early Roman Glass in The Corning Museum of Glass (1979) illustrated, p. 178, #463, pls. 23, 40; BIB# 29547
The Encyclopedia of Glass Paperweights (1969) p. 9, fig. 2; BIB# 27188
Millefiori Glass in Classical Antiquity (1968) illustrated, pp. 58-65, esp p. 61, fig. 21; BIB# AI83734
Treasures in Glass (1966) illustrated, pp. 16-17, no. 8; BIB# 28036
Glass from the Ancient World: The Ray Winfield Smith Collection (1957) illustrated, pp. 80, 82, #131; BIB# 27315
Antique French Paperweights (1955) illustrated, frontispiece; BIB# 19563