Vessel

Small dark blue vessel with four loops. Yellow festoon design. Small chip out of the lip.

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Historical period(s)
4th-3rd century BCE
Medium
Glass
Dimensions
H x W x D: 4.6 x 3.5 x 2.6 cm (1 13/16 x 1 3/8 x 1 in)
Geography
Eastern Mediterranean
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Accession Number
F1909.426
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Glass, Vessel
Type

Vessel

Keywords
Egypt
Provenance

To 1909
Giovanni Dattari (circa 1858-1923), Cairo, Egypt, to 1909 [1]

From 1909 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Giovanni Dattari in 1909 [2]

From 1920
Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]

Notes:

[1] See S.I. 189, Miscellaneous List, Egyptian Glass, pgs. 1 and 4, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. This piece is part of a collection of glass that was purchased en bloc and includes 1,388 specimens (for further purchase information, see the folder for F1909.332).

[2] See note 1.

[3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

Charles Lang Freer 1854-1919
Giovanni Dattari (C.L. Freer source) 1858-1923

Description

Small dark blue vessel with four loops. Yellow festoon design. Small chip out of the lip.

Label

Vessels such as this one are the masterpieces of Freer's Egyptian purchases. Of superb quality and beautifully preserved, they remain the world's premier collection of Egyptian glass vessels produced during Dynasty 18 (1550-1307 B.C.E.). The rich blues and blue-greens and the lustrous surfaces that appealed to Freer were also prized by ancient artisans, who sought to imitate in glass the colors and appearance of favored gemstones, especially turquoise and lapis lazuli. The vessels were made by winding threads of molten glass around a core of sand, clay, and mud.

These small vessels were fashioned as containers for costly perfumed ointments, scented oils, and cosmetics. Comparison with vessels and fragments excavated from royal glass workshops suggests that many of the Freer examples were made during the reigns of the pharaohs Amenhotep III (1391-1353 B.C.E.) and Amenhotep IV, who changed his name to Akhenaten (1353-1335 B.C.E.). They may likewise be the products of royal workshops.

Published References
  • Richard Ettinghausen. Ancient Glass in the Freer Gallery of Art. Washington, 1962. p. 16, fig. 26.
  • David 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. 50. New York. p. 120, fig. 82.
Collection Area(s)
Ancient Egyptian Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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