Glass

Introduction by J.R. Green

The origins of glass manufacture go back to the second millennium BC in Syria and Egypt but there was little dramatic advance in technique until the invention of glass-blowing fairly late in the Hellenistic period. In the Classical period vessels were made laboriously about a sand or similar core and were necessarily therefore small. They must also have been relatively expensive and were used for such purposes as perfume- or scent-bottles: compare the late sixth-century Greek amphoriskos 1971.07. Glass-blowing seems to have been introduced early in the first century BC in Palestine, although at that stage it was used for a fairly restricted range of shapes. It does not seem to have reached Italy before the last quarter of the century, but the conditions of the Roman Empire seem to have encouraged the growth of the glass trade and manufacture, and during the reign of Tiberius in the earlier part of the first century AD there was a notable expansion in glass-blowing technique. It not only brought greater speed and therefore cheapness of production, but made possible larger vessels in a much wider range of shapes of more delicate form. The Eastern Mediterranean remained important as an area of production, but in the course of the first and second centuries AD groups of manufacturers, many of them Syrian in origin, came to be found in most provinces.

Although these developments included the use of glass for open shapes - bowls and dishes of various kinds - the primary use of glass was for comparatively small closed vessels such as bottles and flasks. Their function was of course to hold perfumes and unguents, and it is worth remembering that the development and spread of the manufacture of these shapes is a reflection of the growth of the perfume industry. This is an area of study in which advances are now possible due to the development of more sophisticated techniques for the retrieval and analysis of the minute traces surviving in some vessels of this kind found in tombs. A selection of studies is noted below.

A great deal has been written on perfumes in recent years but it is worth referring back to Theophrastus’ De Odoribus written in the fourth century BC, the subject of a discussion by G. Squillace in D. Frère and L. Hugot (eds), Les huiles parfumées en Méditerranée occientale et en Gaule VIIIe s. av. - VIIIe s. apr. J.-C. Actes du colloque ... tenu à Rome du 16 au 18 novembre 2009 (Naples – Rennes 2012) 231-239. See also J.-P. Brun, Parfums antiques: de l'archéologue au chimiste (Cinisello Balsamo [Milan], 2015). There is an important cautionary tale on the issue of residue analysis by D. Frère, E. Dodinet and N. Garnier, “L’étude interdisciplinaire des parfums anciens au prisme de l’archéologie, la chimie et la botanique: l’exemple de contenus de vases en verre sur noyau d’argile (Sardaigne, vie-ive s. av. J.-C.)” (‘The Interdisciplinary Study of the Ancient Perfumes in the Prism of the Archaeology, the Chemistry and the Botany: The Example of Contents of Glass Vases (Sardinia, 6th-4th BC)’), Archaeosciences 36, 2012, 47-59.

A good further example is F. Sirano, “Le rose di Capua. Per l’archeologia del profumo campano dal III secolo a.C.”, in: A. Campanelli, ed., Rosantico. Natura, bellezza, gusto, profumi tra Paestum, Padula e Velia (Naples 2013), 69-75, which is in general an attractive and informative volume.

It is worth remembering that a key factor in the establishment of manufacturing centres included not only the raw materials but access to a ready supply of fuel, i.e. timber or charcoal, for the furnaces. For recent research on the composition and production centres of ancient glass, see T. Rehren and I. Freestone, “Pattern in Glass Use in the Roman and Byzantine Worlds: A Report on Current Research at the Institute of Archaeology and UCL Qatar”, Archaeology International 17, 2014, 74-78 (with further references), and P. Degryse (ed.), Glass Making in the Greco-Roman World. Results of the ArchGlass Project (Leuven 2014); F. Paolucci and G. De Tommaso, Pretiosa Vitrea: The Art of Glass Manufacturing in the Museums and Private Collections of Tuscany (Florence 2017). It is nowadays becoming clearer that recycling of glass (fragments) was of some importance in the ancient world, one result of which is that it undermines attempts to create regional databases based on physical analysis of the glass.

The material in the collection has been chosen to be representative of the main types, periods and areas.

 

General

The growth in the study of ancient glass has resulted in a huge growth in the number of relevant publications. The following bibliography is therefore very selective. The earlier items are listed as being fundamental to subsequent studies. The catalogue by Whitehouse of the collection in Corning has been referred to consistently in this section inasmuch as it is now a standard resource. There are now many others covering particular collections, and one should note that the Journal of Glass Studies regularly includes articles on ancient material. The Annales de l’Association Internationale pour l’Histoire du Verre is a major source for reliable discussions. There are good bibliographies of recent work on glass by M.-D. Nenna in Revue Archéologique 2009, 283-336; 2012, 63-129; and 2015, 49-118.

 

A. Kisa, Das Glas im Altertume, I-III (Leipzig 1908, repr. Rome 1968)

F. Neuburg, Glass in Antiquity (London 1949)

C. Isings, Roman Glass from Dated Finds (Archaeologica Traiectina II, Groningen 1957)

P. La Baume, Glas der antiken Welt I (Cologne 1973)

A. von Saldern et al., Gläser der Antike. Sammlung Erwin Oppenlander (Mainz 1974)

J.W. Hayes, Roman and Pre-Roman Glass in the Royal Ontario Museum. A Catalogue (Toronto 1975)

D.B. Harden, et al., Glass of the Caesars (Milan 1987)

D.F. Grose, Early Ancient Glass: Core-Formed, Rod-Formed and Cast Vessels and Objects from the Late Bronze Age to the Early Roman Empire, 1600 B.C. to A.D. 5 (Toledo 1989)

M. Newby and K. Painter (eds), Roman Glass. Two Centuries of Art and Invention (Society of Antiquaries Occasional Papers XIII, London 1991)

E.M. Stern, The Toledo Museum of Art. Roman Mold-Blown Glass. The First through Sixth Centuries (Rome 1995)

S.J. Fleming, Roman Glass: Reflections on Everyday Life (University of Pennsylvania Museum, Philadelphia 1997)

V. Arveiller-Dulong and M.-D. Nenna, Les verres antiques du musée du Louvre, i. Contenants à parfum en verre moulé sur noyau et vaisselle moulée VIIe siècle avant J.-C.- Ier siècle après J.-C. (Paris 2000)

id., Les verres antiques du musée du Louvre, ii (Paris 2011) [organised by attributed region of manufacture]

id., Les verres antiques du musée du Louvre, iii. Parures, instruments et éléments d’incrustation (Paris 2011)

D. Foy and M.-D. Nenna (eds), Échanges et commerce du verre dans le monde antique. Actes du colloque de l’Association Française pour l’Archéologie du Verre, Aix-en-Provence et Marseille, 7-9 juin 2001 (Montagnac 2003)

D. Whitehouse, Roman Glass in the Corning Museum of Glass, i (Corning NY, 1997), ii (Corning NY, 2001), iii (Corning NY, 2003) [organised by technique of manufacture]

P. Adam-Veleni and Despoina Ignatiadou (eds), Γυάλινος Κόσμος = Glass Cosmos (Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki 2010)

M. Cima and M.A. Tomei, Vetri a Roma (Milan 2012) [Catalogue of an exhibition held in Rome.]

A. Antonaras, Fire and Sand: Ancient Glass in the Princeton University Art Museum (New Haven 2012)

J. Bayley, I. Freestone and C. Jackson (eds), Glass of the Roman World (Oxford 2015)

D. Foy, “An Overview of the Circulation of Glass in Antiquity”, in: A. Wilson & A. Bowman (eds), Trade, Commerce, and the State in the Roman World (Oxford 2017) 265-299

K.A. Larson “Cheap, Fast, Good: the Roman glassblowing revolution reconsidered”, Journal of Roman Archaeology 32, 2019, 7-22.

 

Of some importance in observing the chronology of glass in the Hellenistic period is the material from the Antikythera shipwreck of the second quarter of the first century BC: see Avronidaki’s publication in N. Kaltsas et al. (eds), The Antikythera Shipwreck. The Ship, the Treasures, the Mechanism (Athens 2012) 132-145 [an abbreviated version in Der versunkene Schatz. Das Schiffwrack von Antikythera (Basle 2015) 150-157].

 

Technical

M. Vallatto and M. Verità, “Glasses from Pompeii and Herculaneum and the Sands of the Rivers Belus and Volturno”, in: J. Renn and G. Castagnetti (eds), Homo faber. Studies on Nature, Technology, and Science at the Time of Pompeii presented at a Conference at the Deutsches Museum, Munich, 21-22 March 2000 (Rome 2002) 63-73

E.M. Stern, “Advances in Roman Glass Technology”, in her Toledo Museum of Art. Roman Mold-Blown Glass (Rome 1995) 34-48.

M.-D. Nenna, “Production et commerce du verre à l’époque impériale: nouvelles découvertes et problématiques”, Facta 1, 2007, 125-147

E.M. Stern, “Glass Production”, in: J.P. Oleson (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Engineering and Technology in the Classical World (Oxford 2008) 520-547, with a comprehensive bibliography.

 

Early Glass and its Origins

B. Nolte and T.E. Haevernick, “Ägyptische und griechische frühe Glasgefässe”, Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Universität Rostock 16, 1967, 491-493

A. Leo Oppenheim, “Towards a History of Glass in the Ancient Near East”, Journal of the American Oriental Society 93, 1973, 259ff.

E.M. Stern, Early Glass of the Ancient World: Ernesto Wolf Collection (Ostfildern 1994)

 

Perfumes

S. Boero-Imwinkelried, “Scent-Related Occupations in Rome. Unguentarii/ae and thurarii/ae”, Proceedings of the XVIth International Congress of Classical Archaeology, Boston, August 23-26, 2003 (Oxford 2006) 495-497

C. Giordano and A. Casale, Perfumes, Unguents, and Hairstyles in Pompeii = Profumi, unguenti e acconciature in Pompei antica (second ed., Rome 2007)

S. Stewart, Perfumes and Cosmetics in the Roman World (Stroud 2007)

L. Bodiou, D. Frère and V. Mehl (eds), Parfums et odeurs dans l'Antiquité (Rennes 2008)

A. Verbanck-Piérard, N. Massar, D. Frère (eds), Parfums de l’Antiquité. La rose et l’encens en Méditerranée (Mariemont 2008

G. Squillace, Il profumo nel mondo antico (Florence 2010)

A. Carannante and M. D’Accunto (eds), I profumi nelle società antiche. Produzione, commercio, usi, valori simbolici (Paestum 2012)

 

A good website on glassmaking in Roman times is presented by the University Museum in Philadelphia: www.museum.upenn.edu/new/research/Roman Glass/index.html. Another, with a wider spread and very helpful on technical issues, is Glassway. Glass from the antiquities to the contemporary age (www.glassway.org/vetro).

 

We most gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Margaret O’Hea of the University of Adelaide in the preparation of these entries, but she should not be held responsible for such errors and misinterpretations as remain.

 

Greek

1971.07 - Core-formed Amphoriskos

 

Roman

1966.68 - Jar

1968.01 - Pillar-Moulded Bowl

1968.02 - Narrow Piriform Unguentarium

1968.23 - Flask

1968.24 - Janiform Mould-Blown Flask

1971.06 - Balsamarium

1977.03 - Flask

1978.09 - Unguentarium with Pointed Base

1978.10 - Dish

1978.11 - One-Handled Flask

1978.12 - Stirring Rod

1978.13 - Small Marbled Flask

1994.02 - Small Flask

2001.01 - Short-Stemmed Goblet

2001.02 - Fragment of a Cameo Glass Cup or Kantharos

2001.04 - 21 Fragments of Augustan-Julio-Claudian Plates and Bowls