Ancient Greece, eastern Mediterranean, probably from Rhodes, ca. early 5th century BCE. A striking core-formed glass oinochoe vessel with a piriform body, a trefoil spout, and a high curved strap handle in mesmerizing saturated blue hues with contrasting tangerine orange and sky blue banding as well as a register of zigzagged swags. Dark cobalt blue was favored by the ancients in part because it reminded them of precious lapis lazuli. A beautiful vessel like this would have been made for the elites of ancient society. Size: 2.875" H (7.3 cm)

According to the Corning Museum of Glass, core forming is "the technique of forming a vessel by winding or gathering molten glass around a core supported by a rod. After forming, the object is removed from the rod and annealed. After annealing, the core is removed by scraping." (https://www.cmog.org/glass-dictionary/core-forming). This process of glass making was begun in the late 16th century BCE by glassmakers of Mesopotamia, and then adopted by Egyptian glassmakers in the 15th century BCE. The technique almost came to an end in the so-called Dark Ages of Mediterranean civilization (1200 to 900 BCE); however, by the 9th century BCE a new generation of glassmakers took up the technique once again, and between the 6th and 4th century BCE core-forming spread throughout the Mediterranean.

See similar examples from Camiros, Rhodes in the British Museum, published in D. B. Harden, "Catalogue of Greek and Roman Glass in the British Museum," Volume I, "Core and Rod-Formed Vessels and Pendants and Mycenean Cast Objects" (London 1981), p. 98, nos. 258-61.

Provenance: private East Coast, USA collection

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#135606

Normal surface wear commensurate with age with expected scratches, a couple of spalls, and a slightly impressed divot below the handle.