bottle
- Museum number
- 1978,1011.2
- Description
-
Small glass bottle with a spherical gold-decorated body and a straight facet-cut neck. The body features a central frieze of gold foil decoration, of alternating upright palmette leaves and tall sprouting shoots. Single dots of blue enamel are dabbed in between the gold vegetation. Under the base is the image of a dove, in silver foil.
- Production date
- 9thC-10thC
- Dimensions
-
Diameter: 10.40 centimetres
-
Height: 14.50 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- The decoration is applied using a technique mastered by Roman glass-makers in the fourth century AD, known as 'sandwich glass', in which the decoration, consisting of gold leaf with details scratched through is applied between two layers of glass. Unlike Roman gold-glass, this Islamic piece is also decorated with blue enamel. The bottle is free blown and the plant forms are classically inspired.
- Location
- On display (G42/dc16)
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2012 14 Mar - 8 Jul, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 'Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition'
2002 20 Feb-15 May, Greece, Athens, Benaki Museum, Glass of the Sultans
2001 17 Sep-2002 14 Jan, USA, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Glass of the Sultans
2001 24 May-2 Oct, USA, Corning, Corning Museum of Glass, Glass of the Sultans
- Acquisition date
- 1978
- Department
- Middle East
- Registration number
- 1978,1011.2
