A ROMAN GLASS SNAKE THREAD SPRINKLER FLASK

CIRCA LATE 2ND-EARLY 3RD CENTURY A.D.

Details

A ROMAN GLASS SNAKE THREAD SPRINKLER FLASK
CIRCA LATE 2ND-EARLY 3RD CENTURY A.D.
Pale green in color, free blown, the piriform body on a ring base, with a short cylindrical neck and wide flaring mouth, an interior diaphragm at the base of the neck, applied "snake" threads in round loops and swirls throughout the body, subsequently flattened and nicked with short tool strokes
4 5/16 in. (10 cm.) high

Provenance

with Boris Mussienko, Upper Marlboro, Maryland.
Acquired by the current owner from the above, 1980.

Brought to you by

G. Max Bernheimer

mbernheimer@christies.com +1 212 636 2247

Lot Essay

The technique seen here is termed "snake" thread decoration because of the serpentine manner in which the trail wanders over the surface to create abstract designs. It was practiced in both the eastern and western areas of the Roman Empire, though current scholarly opinion suggests it originated in the East and quickly spread to the West (D.B. Harden, "Snake Thread Glass Found in the East," in JRS 24, pp. 50-54). For a similar example in the Ernesto Wolf Collection see no. 62, p. 166 in E. M. Stern, Roman, Byzantine, and Early Medieval Glass, 10 BCE-700 CE.

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