35
ARYBALLOS WITH A CYLINDRICAL NECK
Roman, 1st century A.D. Aubergine glass H: 10 cm The vase has survived practically intact despite the thinness of the walls; it was mold-blown in a shiny transparent aubergine glass. The shape, elegant and well-proportioned, is halfway between an aryballos and an amphoriskos: a globular body without a foot but with a small flat base - which provides good balance for the container - relates it more to the famous perfumed oil vases originating in Corinth, while the cylindrical tall neck with the two thick ribbed handles are rather typical of miniature amphorae. The lip is marked by a thick ring in relief; the handles, attached to the upper shoulder and under the lip, where the mass of the glass forms a sinuous bulge, feature three large vertical ribs. There is no decorative pattern on the surface of the container. Bottles of small dimensions, of different shapes (more or less globular body, tall or low flared neck, ribbed or plain handles, etc.) and mold-blown in different colored glass (aubergine, blue, yellow, transparent, green, etc.) were popular during the entire 1st century A.D.: they were among the most frequently used toiletry containers. Their success certainly encouraged glassworkers to be highly inventive in order to continue creating new versions that were even more attractive to the public. Characterized by its smooth and shiny surface, its shape and its balanced proportions, this piece can be considered an excellent example of this style. Towards the end of the Hellenistic period, glass definitely replaced terracotta as a raw material for the manufacture of containers in all areas of daily life: this shift, which occurred gradually, is to be regarded as a major technical revolution of antiquity, facilitated, in early Roman times, by the invention and extremely rapid spread of the blowpipe, as well as by the development of furnaces able to resist higher and higher temperatures. The most versatile material of the ancient world, available in abundance and easy to fashion, glass allowed the imitation of a wide range of other materials (especially precious metals), whether in the form, the design or the color. Its composition, chemically neutral, makes it particularly appropriate for the storage of cosmetic and pharmaceutical products and for solid or liquid foodstuffs. PROVENANCE Ex-U. and L. H. Baden-WĂźrttemberg collection (1969-1980), acquired in 1975.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
136
ISINGS C., Roman Glass from Dated Finds, Groningen, 1957, type 61. KUNINA N., Ancient Glass in the Hermitage Collection, St. Petersburg, 1997, pp. 321-323, n. 340-343. STERN E. M., Roman, Byzantine and Early Medieval Glass, 10 BCE - 700 CE, Ostfildern-Ruit, 2001, pp. 67 -72, n. 10-15.