Glass beaker with cut decoration
Translucent pale blue.
Vertical rim, cracked-off and ground flat, with bulge below; conical body with side tapering gently downwards; solid projecting knob on bottom.
Wheel-abraded decoration comprising at top two broad horizontal bands of lines, enclosing Greek letters with a diagonal band of short lines marking the beginning and/or end of the inscription; at center, a broad frieze containing two bunches of stylized grapes suspended from a T bar and flanked by wavy ribbons, alternating around side with two eight-armed stars; below, two bands of two horizontal lines flanking a band of short diagonal lines.
Intact; a few bubbles; faint iridescent weathering, with slight soil encrustation at bottom of interior.
The Greek inscription PIE ZHCHC (Drink [so that] you may live [well]) is an exhortation commonly found on both pottery and glass vessels. It probably echoes the kind of toast that would have been given at a drinking or dinner party. This beaker was likely made and decorated at a workshop in Syria, demonstrating that glassmakers (vitrarii) worked closely with glass cutters (diatretarii) in the production of glass tableware.
Vertical rim, cracked-off and ground flat, with bulge below; conical body with side tapering gently downwards; solid projecting knob on bottom.
Wheel-abraded decoration comprising at top two broad horizontal bands of lines, enclosing Greek letters with a diagonal band of short lines marking the beginning and/or end of the inscription; at center, a broad frieze containing two bunches of stylized grapes suspended from a T bar and flanked by wavy ribbons, alternating around side with two eight-armed stars; below, two bands of two horizontal lines flanking a band of short diagonal lines.
Intact; a few bubbles; faint iridescent weathering, with slight soil encrustation at bottom of interior.
The Greek inscription PIE ZHCHC (Drink [so that] you may live [well]) is an exhortation commonly found on both pottery and glass vessels. It probably echoes the kind of toast that would have been given at a drinking or dinner party. This beaker was likely made and decorated at a workshop in Syria, demonstrating that glassmakers (vitrarii) worked closely with glass cutters (diatretarii) in the production of glass tableware.
Artwork Details
- Title: Glass beaker with cut decoration
- Period: Late Imperial
- Date: 4th–early 5th century CE
- Culture: Roman
- Medium: Glass; blown and cut
- Dimensions: H. 5 7/8 in. (14.9 cm)
diameter 2 3/4 in. (7.0 cm) - Classification: Glass
- Credit Line: Smith Fund, 1913
- Object Number: 13.198.5
- Curatorial Department: Greek and Roman Art
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