Roman Yellow-Green Glass Pitcher

A large ancient Roman yellow-green glass squat pitcher of cylindrical form with everted lip and broad ribbed handle.

Ca. 1st - 2nd century AD.

Height: 5 1/4 in. (13.3 cm).

Ancient glass manufacture had begun in the 2nd millennium BC in Mesopotamia and Egypt. The Greeks and Phoenicians advanced glass technology greatly in the latter 1st millennium BC. In the early 1st century AD, Roman workshops began producing blown glass on a large scale. Eventually glass vessels came to replace a wide variety of pottery and metal wares in the ancient world. Ancient Roman glass was traded far beyond the Roman empire. Roman glass vessels have been found in Scandinavia, India, and in Han Dynasty tombs in China.

Formerly in the Nico F. Bijnsdorp Collection (NFB 066); acquired from Bonham's, London, November 26, 1997, lot 151; formerly in an American private collection.

Exhibited: Museum Dordts Patriciershuis, Dordrecht. Netherlands, "Glas Door de Eeuwen Heen", 11 April – 11 November 2018.

Published: N. F. Bijnsdorp, Fascinating Fragility; A Private Collection of Ancient Glass, Vol. I, NFB 066.

Inv#: 8586

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