Cup

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Object Name: 
Cup
Maker(s): 
Accession Number: 
66.1.36
Dimensions: 
Overall H: 6 cm, Diam (with handles): 13.2 cm; Rim Diam: 9.7 cm
Location: 
On Display
Date: 
30-70
Web Description: 
The name Ennion appears in one of the Greek inscriptions on the side of this cup.
Department: 
Provenance: 
Sangiorgi, Giorgio (Italian, 1886-1965), Former Collection
1965
Sangiorgi, Sergio (Italian), Source
1965
to
1966
Category: 
Color: 
Material: 
Inscription: 
MNHΘH/O AΓOPA/ ZNω
inscription
side, in tabula ansata Greek
ENNIωN/ EПOIHCEN
inscription
side, in tabula ansata Greek
Primary Description: 
Transparent blue glass with two small red inclusions, few bubbles; body blown in four-part mold, rim ground, handles applied. Two-handled cup with vertical side, sloping bottom and flat base; rim upright, unworked but ground flat; vertical side with decoration in two friezes: (a) on one side, tabula ansata with inscription "ENNIωN/ EПOIHCEN" ('Ennion made [it]'), in Greek flanked by vine sprays; on other side, tabula ansata with inscription "MNHΘH/O AΓOPA/ ZNω" (sic: 'May the buyer be remembered'), in Greek, flanked by ivy sprays; the two sides separated by colonnettes; (b) continuous zone of vertical flutes with rounded ends, with cordon above and below; sloping bottom with overall pattern of lozenges; flat base with five raised concentric circles on underside; two narrow strap handles attached to bottom and top of frieze (a).
Venue(s)
Metropolitan Museum of Art 2014-12-09 through 2015-04-13
Corning Museum of Glass 2015-05-16 through 2016-01-04
At the end of the first century B.C., glassmakers working in the environs of Jerusalem made a revolutionary breakthrough in the way glass was made. They discovered that glass could be inflated at the end of a hollow tube. This technical achievement—glassblowing—made the production of glass vessels much quicker and easier, and allowed glassmakers to develop new shapes and decorative techniques. One technique, inflating glass in molds carved with decorative and figural designs, was used to create multiple examples of a variety of vessel shapes with high-relief patterns. The molds used to shape this ancient glass were complex in their design, and the mold-blown glass vessels of ancient Rome tell a wealth of stories about the ancient world, from gladiators to perfume vessels, from portraits of a Roman empress to oil containers marked with the image of Mercury, Roman god of trade. Among the earliest workshops to design and create mold-blown glass was one in which a man named Ennion worked. Ennion was the first glassmaker to sign his glass objects by incorporating his name into the inscriptions that formed part of the mold’s design, and thus he stands among a small group of glass workers whose names have come down to us from antiquity. On view through January, 4, 2016, Ennion and His Legacy, is composed of mold-blown master works by Ennion and other Roman glassmakers. The works are drawn from the Corning Museum’s collection of Roman glass, one of the finest in the world. Within the larger exhibit is a smaller exhibit organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Ennion: Master of Roman Glass, which focuses specifically on works made by Ennion. Composed of loans from a number of international institutions and private collections this exhibit within an exhibit brings together many of the known examples of Ennion’s wares and will be on view through October 19, 2015.
Liquid Refreshment: 2000 Years of Drinks and Drinking Glasses
Venue(s)
Corning Museum of Glass 1993-04-24 through 1994-12-31
 
Glass of the Caesars
Venue(s)
British Museum 1987-11-18 through 1988-03-06
Romisch-Germanisches Museum 1988-04-15 through 1988-10-18
Musei Capitolini 1988-11-03 through 1989-01-31
Corning Museum of Glass
Shedevry mastera Enniona : antichnoye steklodelie vostochnogo sredizemnomorʹi︠a︡ I-IV vekov : katalog vystavki (2021) illustrated, pp. 36, 42 (ill. 11, 20);
Ancient and Islamic Glass: Selections from the Corning Museum of Glass (2019) illustrated, pp. 59, 61;
The Techniques of Renaissance Venetian Glassworking (2016) illustrated, Fig. 8; BIB# 149619
Glass: Virtual, Real (2016) illustrated, p. 119 (top); BIB# 167899
Ennion and His Legacy: Mold-Blown Glass from Ancient Rome (Antiques and The Arts Weekly) (2015-07-10) illustrated, p. 8C (bottom row); BIB# AI100463
Mould-Blown Glass from Ancient Rome (2015-07) illustrated, p. 11 (bottom); BIB# AI100202
Mold-Blown Glass: Roman and American (2015) illustrated, p. 7 (left); BIB# AI100138
Ennion: Master of Roman Glass (2014) illustrated, p. 48, 51, 96-97, back cover (cat. no. 16); BIB# 142184
Romer unterwegs - Uberall zu Hause und doch fremd (2013) illustrated, p. 89;
Molten Color: Glassmaking in Antiquity (2011) illustrated, p. 82, fig. 52, bottom; p. 76; BIB# 121973
Molten Color: Glassmaking in Antiquity (2011) illustrated, p. 82, fig. 52, bottom; p. 76; BIB# 121973
The illustrated encyclopedia of glass (2011) illustrated, p. 223; BIB# 128671
The Seventy Great Inventions of the Ancient World (2004) illustrated, p. 52 (a); BIB# 89644
The Ennion drinking cups: update (2004) illustrated, p. 143, Fig. 13;
Women working in glass (2003) illustrated, p. 9; BIB# 75742
Plastik sanatlarda cam malzemenin uygulanisi (2003) illustrated, p. 18, fig. 2.3, row 6, #5; BIB# 120381
Jurors' Choice (2003) illustrated, p. 40; BIB# AI98544
The Encyclopedia of Glass (2001) illustrated, p. 183; BIB# 69319
Roman Glass in The Corning Museum of Glass, Volume Two (2001) illustrated, pp. 18-19, pl. 482; BIB# 58895
Beauty of Glass (2000) illustrated, p. 60; BIB# 77736
Roman Glass: Reflections on Cultural Change (1999) illustrated, p. 39, Plate E.46; BIB# 72068
Fantasy of Glass = Genso no garasu (1997) p. 7; BIB# 40979
La Fenice di Sabbia: Storia e Tecnologia del vetro Antico (1995) illustrated, p. 27, fig. 40; p. 28; p. 40, pl. 40; BIB# 39935
All About Glass = Garasu Daihyakka (1993) p. 12; BIB# 36566
Fran Mesopotamien till medeltid (1990-01) p. 45; BIB# AI25904
Glass of the Caesars (1987) illustrated, pp. 164-165, #86; BIB# 31831
Romano-Syrian Glasses with Mould-Blown Inscriptions (1935) pp. 163-186, esp. 166;