Images(4)

bottle

Object NameBottle with Decoration of Ibexes

Made FromGlass

Date800-999

TechniqueBlown, relief-cut, beveled

SizeOverall H: 16.7 cm, Diam (max): 9 cm

Accession Number71.1.7

Curatorial Area(s)

Ancient

Exhibitions

Traveling the Silk Road: Ancient Pathway to the Modern World

Treasures from The Corning Museum of Glass

Liquid Refreshment: 2000 Years of Drinks and Drinking Glasses

Glass of the Sultans

Masterpieces of Glass from The Corning Museum of Glass

The Art of Glass: Masterpieces from The Corning Museum of Glass

Interpretive Notes

Web Text

There are many Islamic relief-cut glasses. Some are monochrome (usually colorless, in imitation of rock crystal), and others are cameo glasses. On all of these objects, however, the background and most of the interior of the main decorative motifs were removed by cutting and grinding, leaving the outlines and a few details in relief. In the ninth and 10th centuries, these objects were widely distributed in the central part of the Islamic world. A wide variety of decorative images was used: palmettes, horses, hares, lions, birds, and even fantastic animals. The bottle shown here is decorated with a broad frieze that contains three pairs of ibexes facing one another across a vegetal motif. The cutting is careful and detailed, even on the inside of the rim and the underside of the base - areas that were not normally visible on such objects.

Place Made

Western Asia; probably Iran

Physical DescriptionColorless; blown and relief-cut; globular body, rim is slightly everted and inside is beveled. The neck is narrow and cylindrical. The base has a low, splayed foot ring, the underside is convex. The bottle has relief-cut decoration on the lower neck and wall. The mid-section has five continuous horizontal ribs. The lower part is cut in eight contiguous vertical facets. There is a stepped molding at the junction of the neck and the shoulder. The body is decorated with a broad frieze framed by a horizontal rib at the junction of the shoulder and the wall and another rib near the base. The frieze contains three pairs of ibexes facing one another across a vegetal motif consisting of two S-shaped scrolls terminating below in a palmette, and two S-shaped scrolls and a heart-shaped motif behind them. The ibexes have long, curving horns, short bodies and small tails. The hip joints of the rear legs are marked with a scroll. Many of the outlines are notched and the heads and feet of the ibexes, and some other motifs, are hatched.
Provenance

Provenance Remark

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