Images(2)

flask

Object NameFish

Made FromGlass

Date1-99 or later

Place Madeprobably Eastern Mediterranean

TechniqueBlown, applied

SizeOverall (including fins) H: 4.9 cm, L: 16 cm, Th: 2.5 cm

Accession Number55.1.5

Curatorial Area(s)

Ancient

Exhibitions

Verres Antiques de la Collection R.W. Smith

Poseidon and the Sea: Myth, Cult, and Daily Life

Glass from the Ancient World

Crafting Connections: Our Relationship with Handheld Glass

Not On View

Interpretive Notes

Web Text

This piece was created in the Eastern Mediterranean during the Roman Empire. Glassmaking techniques are used to craft its delicate marbled pattern. With an opaque, red base color and trails of white, yellow, and green, the complex decoration and the combination of glassblowing as well as sculpting are a testament to the craftsmanship and experimental spirit of the maker. This bottle was likely used to store perfume. We can imagine it sitting on a table, attracting the attention of its owner with its eye-catching characteristics.

Physical DescriptionBase glass apparently opaque red, trails appear to be white, yellow, and green, perhaps all opaque, possibly with additional colors; blown, trails applied to parison, which was then marvered and inflated to full size, additional trails added. Long and narrow fish with posterior part of body and tail curving to left. Body has scales represented by spirally would trails of white, yellow, and perhaps green, which were dragged to create “feathered” effect and marvered. All other details were added after body had assumed final size. Head had eyes indicated by small blobs (missing but indicated by scars) and has thick white lips, with open mouth made by piercing lips and base glass with rod (D. 0.3 cm), and white and green gills; dorsal and anal fins are long white trails, which have been pinched into series of projections; pelvic fin is represented by pinched white blob; white trail applied to end of tail, which was then pinched to close original opening at point of attachment to blowpipe.
Provenance

Source Ray Winfield Smith (American, 1897-1982) - 1955-04-19