Everted, unworked, knocked-off rim; slightly irregular and oval-shaped body with vertical sides; convex undercurve with low base ring; flat but uneven bottom. A continuous mold seam runs from rim, down sides (concealed by palm fronds), and across bottom.
On body, two friezes run around the sides; the upper and narrower frieze contains four names, widely spaced; the lower frieze, flanked above and below by a horizontal ridge, is broader and comprises two scenes divided by vertical palm fronds, each containing two pairs of gladiators in varying stances with four names inserted between them at the top of the scenes.
Broken and repaired, but with some losses to rim and body; a few pinprick and larger bubbles, and a few gritty impurities; slight dulling and pitting, and faint iridescent weathering.
The scene around the cup depicts four pairs of gladiators fighting. Each man is identified by name in the Latin inscription above him. Some of the names match those of known gladiators who became famous in games held in Rome during the Julio-Claudian period, suggesting that such cups may have been made as souvenirs.
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Title:Glass gladiator cup
Period:Early Imperial, Neronian or early Flavian
Date:ca. 50–80 CE
Culture:Roman
Medium:Glass; blown in a two-part mold
Dimensions:H. 3 1/8 in. (7.9 cm)
Classification:Glass
Credit Line:Gift of Henry G. Marquand, 1881
Accession Number:81.10.245
Inscription: The names of gladiators inscribed in Latin: Gamus, Merops, Calamus, Hermes, Tetraites, Prudes, Spiculus, and Columbus
Said to have been found at Montagnole (near Chambéry, France) in 1855, together with 81.10.10 (Le Constitutionnel savoisien. Journal du progrès. May 24, 1855)
In May 1855, found at Montagnole, near Chambéry, on the property of Mr. Vissol; after 1855, purchased by Jules Charvet from Mr. Vissol; by 1879 and until 1881, collection of Jules Charvet, Le Pecq, Île-de-France; 1881, purchased from J. Charvet by Henry G. Marquand; acquired in 1881, gift of Henry G. Marquand.
Le Constitutionnel Savoisien. May 24, 1855. Le Constitutionnel Savoisien. Journal du progrès, :
Association Florimontane. 1855. Bulletin de l’Association Florimontane d’Annecy et Revue Savoisienne, 1: p. 229.
de La Villegille, Paul Arthur Nouail. 1857. "Notice sur un verre à boire antique trouvé dans la Vendée." Bulletin du Comité de la Langue, de l’Histoire et des Arts de la France, 4: pp. 916–18.
1858. "Notice sur une découverte faite à Montagnole d’une Urne Cinéraire." Mémoires et Documents Publiés par la Société Savoisienne d’Histoire et d’Archéologie, 2: pp. 25–29.
1864. Mémoires et Documents Publiés par la Société Savoisienne d’Histoire et d’Archéologie, 8: pp. XVIII–XIX, ills.
Lenormant, François. 1865. "Vase antique de Verre représentant des Combats de Gladiateurs." Revue Archéologique, n.s. 2: pp. 305–10, pl. XX.
Smith, Charles Roach F.S.A. 1866. "Proceedings of Learned Societies. Notes of the Month." The Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Review, New Series: p. 45.
Revue Archéologique. 1867. "“Nouvelles archéologiques et correspondence.”." Revue Archéologique, New Series: p. 151.
Baudot, Henri. 1869. "“Notice sur les vases antiques en verre représentant les jeux et les combats du cirque”." Mémoires de la Commission des Antiquités du département de la Côte-d’Or, 7: p. 206, pl. 2.
Deville, Achille. 1871. Histoire de l’art de la verrerie de l’antiquité. p. 42, Paris: Veuve A. Morel et Cie.
La Nature. 1877. La Nature. Revue des sciences et de leurs applications aux arts et à l'industrie, 1er semester: pp. 65–66.
Froehner, Wilhelm. 1879. La verrerie antique: déscription de la Collection Charvet. pp. 67–68, 110, 139, pl. XXI, 97, Le Pecq: Jules Charvet.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1881. Twelfth Annual Report of the Trustees of the Association for eight months ending December 31, 1881. pp. 215–16, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Hirschfeld, Otto. 1888. Inscriptiones Galliae narbonensis latinae, Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, 12. no. 5696.32, p. 795, G. Reimerum.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1895. The Terracottas and Pottery of the Cesnola Collection of Cypriote Antiquities in Halls 4 and 15. p. 215–16, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Bohn, O. 1903. "Zwei Fragmente römische Glasbecher." Anzeiger für Schweizerische Altertumskunde, 5: no. 2.
Kisa, Anton. 1908. Das Glas im Altertume, Vol. 3. pp. 735–36, fig. 281, Leipzig: K. W. Hiersemann.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1911. "The Room of Ancient Glass." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 6(6) Supp.: pp. 16–17, fig. 17.
Morin-Jean, Jean Alexis Joseph Morin. 1913. La verrerie en Gaule sous l'empire romain: essai de morphologie et de chronologie. pp. 190–91, Paris: Henri Laurens.
McClees, Helen. 1924. The Daily Life of the Greeks and Romans: As Illustrated in the Classical Collections. p. 106, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Eisen, Gustavus A. and Fahim Joseph Kouchakji. 1927. Glass: Its Origin, History, Chronology, Technic and Classification to the Sixteenth Century, Vol. 1. pp. 255, 274–75, pl. 61, New York: W. E. Rudge.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1930[1911]. The Room of Ancient Glass, : pp. 16–17, fig. 17.
McClees, Helen and Christine Alexander. 1933. The Daily Life of the Greeks and Romans: As Illustrated in the Classical Collections, 5th ed. pp. 111, 113, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1936. A Special Exhibition of Glass from the Museum Collections: New York, October 13 to November 29, 1936.. p. 7, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Harden, Donald Benjamin. 1940. "Roman Mould-Blown Glass." The Connoisseur, 106: no. 9, p. 104.
McClees, Helen and Christine Alexander. 1941. The Daily Life of the Greeks and Romans: As Illustrated in the Classical Collections, 6th ed. pp. 111, 113, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Corning Museum of Glass. 1957. Glass from the Ancient World: the Ray Winfield Smith Collection. p. 59, Corning, New York: Corning Museum of Glass.
1958. "A Roman Sports Cup." Archaeology, 11: p. 4.
Fremersdorf, Fritz. 1961. Die Denkmäler des römischen Köln. Bd. 6. Römisches geformtes Glas in Köln., Die Denkmäler des römischen Köln, Bd. 6. no. 5, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter & Co.
Sennequier, Geneviève. 1978. "Nouveaux Aperçus sur Deux Verres Gallo-Romains du Musée des Antiquités de Rouen : une Coupe à Course de Chars et un Goblelet à Gladiateurs." Annales du 7 Congrès de l'Association Internationale pour l'Histoire du Verre. pp. 82–83, fig. 8, Liège: Edition du Secrétariat Général.
Arveiller-Dulong, Véronique, Hubert Cabart, Jean-François Garnier, Bénédicte Grosjean, Anne Hochuli-Gysel, Christian Landes, Jocelyne Nelis-Clément, and Geneviève Sennequier. 1998. Les verres romains à scènes de spectacle trouvés en France, Geneviève Sennequier, Anne Hochuli-Gysel, Beat Rütti, Sylvia Fünfschilling, Ludwig Berner, Jocelyne Nelis-Clément, and Christian Landes, eds. no. 78, pp. 55–56, 133, pls. 5, 9, Rouen: Association française pour l'archéologie du verre.
Milleker, Elizabeth J. 2000. The Year One: Art of the Ancient World East and West, Elizabeth J. Milleker, ed. no. 54, pp. 60, 66–67, 207, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Picón, Carlos A. 2007. Art of the Classical World in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Greece, Cyprus, Etruria, Rome no. 445, pp. 379, 492–93, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
de Puma, Richard Daniel. 2013. Etruscan Art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. p. 172 n. 6 [p. 314], New Haven and London: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Lightfoot, Christopher S. 2014. Ennion: Master of Roman Glass. p. 30, fig. 19, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Cassibry, Kimberly. 2018. "Spectacular Translucence : The Games in Glass." Theoretical Roman Archaeology Journal, 1(1): pp. 10, 15, figs. 1, 8B, 15, table 1.
Zanker, Paul, Seán Hemingway, Christopher S. Lightfoot, and Joan R. Mertens. 2019. Roman Art : A Guide through the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Collection. no. 177, p. 345, New York: Scala Publishers.
Popkin, Maggie L. 2022. Souvenirs and the Experience of Empire in Ancient Rome : shaping cultural memory and social identity. pp. 128, 131, fig. 60, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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The Museum's collection of Greek and Roman art comprises more than 30,000 works ranging in date from the Neolithic period to the time of the Roman emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity in A.D. 312.
