Knobbed or Lotus-Bud Beaker

Object Name: 
Knobbed or Lotus-Bud Beaker

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Object Name: 
Knobbed or Lotus-Bud Beaker
Accession Number: 
64.1.10
Dimensions: 
Overall H: 20.2 cm, Diam (max): 8.7 cm
Location: 
Not on Display
Date: 
1-99
Web Description: 
The knobbed pattern on this tall vessel was formed when a bubble of hot glass was inflated in a mold. Often described as "lotus bud" because the knobs resemble the bud of the lotus, this pattern was very popular in the first century A.D. Such beakers were made in many sizes; this example is impressively large.
Department: 
Provenance: 
Smith, Ray Winfield (American, 1897-1982), Source
1966-01-04
Category: 
Color: 
Technique: 
Material: 
Primary Description: 
Light greenish glass; mold-blown in a four-part vertical section mold. Beaker is decorated with six horizontal rows of "lotus- buds", eight in each row, alternately staggered forming eight vertical rows of three in each row. The beaker has been cracked-off at the rim, which is rather sharp and irregular. The separate flat base is decorated with two raised rings in the center.
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.
East Side Winter Antiques Show
Venue(s)
Park Avenue Armory
 
Glass from the Ancient World
Venue(s)
Corning Museum of Glass 1957-06-04 through 1957-09-15
Jurors' Choice (2016) illustrated, p. 89; BIB# AI101515
Mould-Blown Glass from Ancient Rome (2015-07) illustrated, p. 13 (top left); BIB# AI100202
Shades of Glass (2006) illustrated, Cover, row 2, 2nd from right; BIB# 100967
Roman Glass in The Corning Museum of Glass, Volume Two (2001) illustrated, p. 27, pl. 492; BIB# 58895
Glass Capturing the Dance of Light (1993) illustrated, p. 62, bottom; BIB# AI30595
Glass from the Ancient World: The Ray Winfield Smith Collection (1957) illustrated, #71, pp. 58-59; BIB# 27315