PTOLEMAIC-ROMAN PERIOD, CIRCA 1ST CENTURY B.C.-1ST CENTURY A.D.

Details

TWO EGYPTIAN MOSAIC GLASS LOTUS FLOWER INLAYS
PTOLEMAIC-ROMAN PERIOD, CIRCA 1ST CENTURY B.C.-1ST CENTURY A.D.
Both opaque white, turquoise, and translucent cobalt blue, in opaque red matrix
5/8 in. x 11/16 in. (1.5 cm. x 1.8 cm.) (2)

Provenance

The Groppi Collection, Switzerland; acquired in the 1920s-1940s.

Exhibited

Antikensmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig und Museum August Kestner Hannover, Köstlichkeiten aus Kairo!, 2008, nos 14a & 14b.

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 20% on the buyer's premium.

Lot Essay

PUBLISHED:
Exhibition catalogue, Köstlichkeiten aus Kairo!, Antikensmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig und Museum August Kestner Hannover, 2008, p. 68, nos 14a & 14b.

The lotus flower with its roots in the mud, its stem in the water and its petals opening up to the sun, was where the young sun-god Horus sat at the moment of creation. Cf. an almost identical bar in E. M. Stern and B. Schlick-Nolte, Early Glass of the Ancient World, 1600 B.C.-A.D. 50, Ernesto Wolf Collection, Ostfildern, 1994, no. 138.

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