Dip Mold

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Object Name: 
Dip Mold
Accession Number: 
86.7.15
Dimensions: 
Overall H: 11.4 cm, Diam (max): 8.8 cm
Location: 
On Display
Date: 
1000-1299
Primary Description: 
Dip Mold. Reddish brown copper-zinc alloy (brass); cast, incised. Mold shaped like truncated cone. Rim in form of narrow flange, with flat top and rounded edge; wall straight; base plain, slightly convex. Interior has molded decoration in prominent relief: on wall, extending from top to bottom, 13 continuous horizontal rows of tall, narrow rhomboid bosses arranged in quincunx; on floor, rosette consisting of seven widely spaced, narrow rhomboid bosses, surrounded by continuous ring of 13 narrow rhomboid bosses. On outside, incised Arabic inscription consisting of two lines of Nashki script: Uthman b. Abu Nasr / az-Zajjaz: Uthman, son of Abu Nasr, glassmaker.
Provenance: 
Sotheby's, Source
1986-04-16
Technique: 
Material: 
Inscription: 
Uthman b. Abu nasr, glassmaker
Inscription
scratched on outside
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.
Traveling the Silk Road: Ancient Pathway to the Modern World
Venue(s)
American Museum of Natural History 2009-11 through 2010-08
National Museum of Natural Science 2011-06-11 through 2011-09-12
National Museum of Australia 2012-03-31 through 2012-07-29
Palazzo delle Esposizioni 2012-10-27 through 2013-03-24
National Chaing Kai Shek Memorial Hall
 
Glass of the Sultans
Venue(s)
Benaki Museum
Corning Museum of Glass
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Isurāmu garasu=Islamic glass/イスラーム・ガラス=Islamic glass/真道洋子著; 桝屋友子監修 (2020) illustrated, preface color plate 4;
Ancient and Islamic Glass: Selections from the Corning Museum of Glass (2019) illustrated, pp. 110-111;
Islamic Glass in the Corning Museum of Glass Volume Two (2014) illustrated, p. 263, #1076; BIB# 113723
Histoire du Verre: les chefs-d'oeuvre de l'Islam (2007) illustrated, p. 91; BIB# 98424
Looking at Glass: A Guide to Terms, Styles and Techniques (2005) illustrated, p. 55; BIB# 99164
Glass of the Sultans (2001) illustrated, p. 85, #11; BIB# 68105
Chemical Analyses of Early Glasses (Volume 1) (1999) pp. 226, 250; BIB# 61154
La Fenice di Sabbia: Storia e Tecnologia del vetro Antico (1995) illustrated, p. 88; p. 89, fig. 123; BIB# 39935
Three Islamic Molds (1993) pp. 152-153;
Stained Glass: Jewels of Light (1988) illustrated, p. 17; BIB# 59584
Recent Important Acquisitions, 29 (1987) illustrated, pp. 114-115, #4; BIB# AI19055
Islamic Works of Art, Carpets and Textiles (1986-04-16) p. 11, lot 33; BIB# 5533