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 with an opaque white and red petalled flower in blue translucent matrix
5/8 in. x 5/8 in. (1.6 cm. x 1.6 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 15a & 15b.

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 15a & 15b.

To see how such a piece might be inserted into a Nilotic landscape, cf. 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. 125. The lotus flower, with its roots in the mud, its stem in the water, and its flower opening up to the sun, was the point upon which the young sun-god Horus sat at the first moment of creation. The lotus flower also symbolises Upper Egypt.

More from The Groppi Collection

View All