Shallow Bowl (Phiale)

Object Name: 
Shallow Bowl (Phiale)

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Object Name: 
Shallow Bowl (Phiale)
Accession Number: 
59.1.578
Dimensions: 
Overall H: 3.2 cm; Rim Diam (max): 17.5 cm
Location: 
On Display
Date: 
about 450-330 BCE
Web Description: 
After the Assyrian kingdom was destroyed in 612 B.C., the casting of glass nearly disappeared. It was revived in the Achaemenid Empire during the fifth century. The Achaemenids were the rulers of Persia, and their glass industry focused on the manufacture of luxury table wares that imitated rock crystal. This type of broad, flat bowl, used for drinking or pouring libations, was widely used throughout the empire. The most luxurious of these objects were made of gold, rock crystal, silver, and glass. Fragments of two dozen cast and cut glass vessels, including a bowl of this kind, were found at Persepolis, one of the empire’s capitals. It is not certain when they were made, but it must have been before the destruction of the palace complex by Alexander the Great in 331 B.C.
Department: 
Provenance: 
Henrich, Wilhelm, Source
1959-08-06
Color: 
Material: 
Primary Description: 
Shallow Bowl (Phiale). Greenish glass, bubbly with frosted surface and patches of thin iridescent film; cast or sagged, cut, polished. Rounded rim flares out gently from almost straight-sided form with shallow convex bottom, the carination between side and bottom is highlighted with two lathe-cut grooves; the bottom of the vessel retains an omphalos from which radiate 32 flutes with rounded tops; each flute is relief-cut and concave in cross section.
Masterpieces of Glass from The Corning Museum of Glass
Venue(s)
National Gallery of Art 1990-12-02 through 1991-04-14
The Art of Glass: Masterpieces from The Corning Museum of Glass
Venue(s)
IBM Gallery 1989-12-12 through 1990-02-02
National Gallery of Art 1990-12-09 through 1991-04-14
Decorative and utilitarian works from the Corning Museum of Glass, surveying 35 centuries of glass-making technology and stylistic developments from ancient Egyptian, Roman, Islamic, and Asian cultures to contemporary American and European examples. The works were selected by Corning Museum staff members Dwight P. Lanmon, director and curator of European glass; David B. Whitehouse, curator of ancient and Islamic glass; Jane Shadel Spillman, curator of American glass; and Susanne K. Frantz, curator of 20th-century glass.
 
A Tribute to Persia
Venue(s)
Corning Museum of Glass 1972 through 1972
Development history of ancient Chinese glass technology (2021) illustrated, p. 148;
Ancient and Islamic Glass: Selections from the Corning Museum of Glass (2019) illustrated, pp. 36-37;
Zhongguo gu dai bo li qi min = Chinese ancient glass (2018) illustrated, p. 56 (2-16);
Cast: Art and Objects Made Using Humanity's Most Transformational Process (2017) illustrated, p. 237 (right); BIB# 149978
Glass: Virtual, Real (2016) illustrated, p. 113 (top); BIB# 167899
Zhongguo gu dai bo li ji shu fa zhan shi / 中国古代玻璃技术发展史 / 干福熹等著 (2016) illustrated, p. 075;
Jurors' Choice (New Glass Review 36) (2015) illustrated, p. 92 (bottom left); BIB# AI99413
Contemporary Glass Vessels: Selections from the Corning Museum of Glass (2015) illustrated, p. 15 (fig. 10); BIB# 149403
Verres d'usage et d'apparat, de la renaissance au xix siecle (2013) illustrated, p. 19;
Glass: A Short History (Smithsonian Books edition) (2012) illustrated, p. 24; BIB# 130360
Glass: A Short History (The British Museum edition) (2012) illustrated, p. 24; BIB# 135965
Historia del Vidrio: desarrollo formal, technologico y cientifico (2012) illustrated, Fig. 5, p. 21; BIB# 139172
Mirror Palaces (Palazzi di Specchio) (2008) illustrated, p. 112 (middle); BIB# 107172
A Glass Beaker with Cut Decoration, Found at Uppakra (2004) illustrated, pp. 129-130, fig. 24; BIB# 78015
Glass in Art, History, and Science at The Corning Museum of Glass (2003) illustrated, p. 72, no. 25; BIB# AI64198
Plastik sanatlarda cam malzemenin uygulanisi (2003) illustrated, p. 16, fig. 2.2; BIB# 120381
New History of World Art - Western Asia (2000-02) p. 267, ill. #236;
Lobmeyr 1823: Helles Glas un klares Licht (1998) illustrated, p. 190; BIB# 58172
Enciclopedia Dell'Arte Antica, classica e orientale (1997) illustrated, p. 1022, fig. 1297;
All About Glass = Garasu Daihyakka (1993) p. 17; BIB# 36566
History of Glass Crafts (1990-07) p. 45;
A Short History of Glass (1990 edition) (1990) illustrated, p. 20; p. 18, #7; BIB# 33211
Masterpieces of Glass: A World History From The Corning Museum of Glass (1990) illustrated, pp. 28-29, pl. 6; BIB# 33819
Conservation of Glass (1989) p. 23, fig. 2.6; BIB# 24726
Appointments 1982 (1981) illustrated, p. 6; BIB# 67110
A Short History of Glass (1980 edition) (1980) illustrated, pp. 16-17, #7; BIB# 21161
Pre-Roman and Early Roman Glass in The Corning Museum of Glass (1979) illustrated, p. 118, #248, pls. 14, 37; BIB# 29547
A Tribute to Persia, Persian Glass (1972) illustrated, p. 8, no. 1; BIB# 65782
An Achaemenid Glass Bowl in a Dated Context (1972) pp. 15-16;
Persian Export Glass (1970) illustrated, p. 14, fig. 13;
Achaemenid and Sasanian Cut Glass (1962) pp. 7-8, fig. 1;
Ancient Glass at Corning (1962) p. 27, fig. 3; BIB# AI58241
Recent Important Acquisitions, 2 (1960) illustrated, pp. 138-139, #3; BIB# AI97738