Roman, Imperial period, ca. 1st to 3rd century CE. A heavy glass bowl with a series of wheel cut rings around the interior - below the rim and in tondo. The glass is wonderfully translucent and smooth to touch. Beautifully preserved, this bowl would have been used at an ordinary Roman's table, perhaps to lay out meat during the "cena", the main meal of the day. Size: 5.95" W x 1.75" H (15.1 cm x 4.4 cm)

Most scholars agree, Roman glass was of the highest quality - both aesthetically and technically - among the ancients. While glass making had been practiced for centuries, glass blowing was invented in the Roman-controlled Holy Land in the 1st century BCE. This innovative technology revolutionized the artform. We can appreciate such a wide variety of forms and shapes, because the medium of glass has unique physical properties that make for so many more possibilities which would eventually replace a wide variety of pottery and metal wares in the ancient world. Roman glassmakers reached incredible artistic heights with both free-blown vessels and mold blown forms and decorations and were traded far beyond the Roman Empire. Roman glass vessels have been found in Scandinavia, India, and in Han Dynasty tombs in China.

Provenance: private East Coast, USA collection

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#137060

Intact, with light scratching and pitting on surface commensurate with age.