Glass skyphos (drinking cup)
Colorless.
Beveled, slightly inverted rim, with slight lip above tops of handles; slightly convex curving side tapering downward; splayed base ring with flat bottom edge; almost flat bottom; two ring handles applied to sides of body, carved out from blanks surrounded by irregular raised squared-off areas, with flat thumb-rests above rings and projecting wings above and below; vestigial scrollwork flanking either side of handles.
Body complete but with many internal strain cracks, and restored handles: one handle complete except for end of thumb-rest above ring, the other surviving only as the top of the ring; pinprick and larger bubbles; dulling, iridescence, patches of creamy weathering, and some spots of encrustation.
Rotary grinding marks on interior and exterior. Stands unevenly on base.
Many glass vessels in the Hellenistic period were made of intentionally decolorized glass. The attempt to make them look colorless and transparent may be associated with the desire to imitate luxury rock-crystal vessels.
Beveled, slightly inverted rim, with slight lip above tops of handles; slightly convex curving side tapering downward; splayed base ring with flat bottom edge; almost flat bottom; two ring handles applied to sides of body, carved out from blanks surrounded by irregular raised squared-off areas, with flat thumb-rests above rings and projecting wings above and below; vestigial scrollwork flanking either side of handles.
Body complete but with many internal strain cracks, and restored handles: one handle complete except for end of thumb-rest above ring, the other surviving only as the top of the ring; pinprick and larger bubbles; dulling, iridescence, patches of creamy weathering, and some spots of encrustation.
Rotary grinding marks on interior and exterior. Stands unevenly on base.
Many glass vessels in the Hellenistic period were made of intentionally decolorized glass. The attempt to make them look colorless and transparent may be associated with the desire to imitate luxury rock-crystal vessels.
Artwork Details
- Title: Glass skyphos (drinking cup)
- Period: Hellenistic
- Date: 3rd–1st century BCE
- Culture: Greek
- Medium: Glass; cast and cut
- Dimensions: H.: 3 7/8 (9.8 cm); diam. of rim: 5 5/16 in. (13.5 cm)
- Classification: Glass
- Credit Line: Gift of Henry G. Marquand, 1881
- Object Number: 81.10.94
- Curatorial Department: Greek and Roman Art
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1st half of 1st century CE
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mid-4th–early 3rd century BCE
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ca. 480 BCE
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late 3rd–early 2nd century BCE
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late 3rd–early 2nd century BCE
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