Late Roman Jug with Trailing

£ 1,650.00

An extremely fine translucent yellow glass Jug with trailed decoration from the Roman Empire. The vessel features a body piriform shape, leading to a cylindrical neck, a flaring mouth with a trefoil rim and rounded lip. The outside of the rim is decorated with a very fine trail of the same coloured glass, adding texture to it. An applied handle and drop stopping ridge on the neck in dark green glass complete the vessel. Very fine trailing in translucent blue-turquoise applied on the fluted body, which sits on a concave push-up base. Beautiful luminescent iridescence present on the surface.

Date: Circa 4th-5th Century AD
Provenance: Ex important S.M., Mayfair collection, 1970s-90s.
Condition: Extremely fine, complete and intact with large patches of iridescence.
Product Code: RGS-59
Category: Tag:

Glass production evolved during the Roman Empire with the introduction of glassblowing, which allowed for a great variety of different shapes and styles to be constructed. The technique allowed for easier manipulation of the glass into more intricate designs allowing the vessels to have an assortment of functions. Glassblowing also allowed for a quicker paced production, the hot glass would be blown into a mould and then removed whilst still hot so that the glass maker could still work on it. Different minerals were added to create a variety of colours; the blue tint seen in this piece would have been created by adding cobalt oxide and copper oxide. The iridescence on Ancient Roman glass was unintentional, and was caused by weathering on its surface. The extent to which a glass object weathers depends mainly on the burial conditions; however, the humidity, heat, and type of soil in which the glass was buried in also all affect its preservation.

To learn more about Roman glass, visit our relevant post: How It Was Made: Roman Glass.

Dimensions W 7 x H 12 cm
Region

Southern Europe

Glass

Blown Glass

Reference: For a similar item, The Metropolitan Museum, accession number X.21.169.

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