Ancient Roman Glass Vessel 'Bunch of Grapes' Figural Bottle

Ancient Roman Glass Vessel 'Bunch of Grapes' Figural Bottle

Regular price $895.00 Sale

Lovely and hard to find dark brown coloured grapes shaped flask. It has a short neck on under a wide flared rim and still has a stopped attached! This glass flask has a pontil base and can stand on its own. Nice surface and intact said for a small hole as seen in the picture. Measures 2 inches in height.

The technique of mold blowing enabled the ancient glassblower to create vessels that could begin to imitate a wider variety of objects. Artisans who were working around the Syro-Palestinian coast in the 1st century AD started looking at their local food as a new inspiration for their glass creations. The first type of brown blown glass was in the form of dried dates. These were used for storing medicine, perfume and foodstuff. Later on we started seeing “bunch of grapes” vessels, which were more natural in nature and perhaps influenced by artisans from the western regions of Roman Empire, as more careful attention was required to produce the lobed grape clusters.

Provenance: From the collection of Alex G. Malloy, former dealer in antiquities for 40 years.