Large Roman Cut-Glass Beaker

4TH-5TH CENTURY A.D.

7 1/2 in. (295 grams, 19 cm).

With a thick conical body and a pontil base, five horizontal grooves cut around the outer face of the body; traces of iridescence.

Provenance

Dr Jutaro Kawabe, Nagoya, Japan, his collection formed in the 1960s-1970s.
with Hoshigaoka Gallery until the late 1990s.
Private collection, London, UK.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13277-254062.

Literature

Cf. Auth, H.S., Ancient Glass at the Newark Museum, New Jersey, 1976, items 200 and 201; Whitehouse, D., Roman Glass in The Corning Museum of Glass: Volume Three, New York, 2003, item 1180; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, item 74.51.310.

Footnotes

Conical vessels of this form could be used as either a lamp or a beaker; notably during the late imperial period in the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire and in the early Migration period. Deep cuts on this piece suggest it was used with suspension chains or ropes, making it highly likely that this example was used as a lamp.

CONDITION

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LOT 0201