dish

Object NameDish

Made FromGlass

Dateabout 1-50

Place MadeEastern Mediterranean; possibly Egypt; possibly Syria

Techniquemillefiori or ribbon glass technique

SizeD(rim): 8.4 cm

Accession Number55.1.83

Curatorial Area(s)

Ancient

Exhibitions

Verres Antiques de la Collection R.W. Smith

Flowers Which Clothe the Meadows

Glass from the Ancient World

On ViewAncient Gallery

Physical DescriptionTranslucent yellow-brown, amethyst and deep blue glass with opaque white, yellow, red and light blue with milky white streaks, all glasses are dull and slightly pitted, interior surface reground; millefiori or ribbon glass technique. Lens-shaped bowl formed by fourteen ribbons of three different configurations arranged symmetrically around a central coil of yellow-brown glass with a spiral opaque white trail; (1.) translucent medium blue streaked with white; (2.) a yellow-brown stripe with opaque yellow, red and white on either side; (3.) in a field of medium blue with white streaks, square cane elements of translucent amethyst around a thin opaque white liner with a square translucent deep blue center set alternately on end and on side to create a repetitive chain; the outer segments of the bowl are filled with alternating bands of configuration 2 and 1; the underside reveals the central trail and the two complex millefiori ribbons are not backed by translucent yellow-brown but extend through the entire thickness of the vessel, the form is finished by wrapping a yellow-brown coil with opaque white trail around the exterior and overlapping it in several areas to fill in irregularities; the exterior surface was fire polished while the inner surface seems to have been reground in modern times.
Provenance

Source Ray Winfield Smith (American, 1897-1982) - 1955-09-09