All About Glass
All About Glass
This is your resource for exploring various topics in glass: delve deeper with this collection of articles, multimedia, and virtual books all about glass. Content is frequently added to the area, so check back for new items. If you have a topic you'd like to see covered, send us your suggestion. If you have a specific question, Ask a Glass Question at our Rakow Research Library.
The Morgan Cup [52.1.93] is a Roman cameo glass of the first century A.D. It may have been found in the ancient city of Heraclea Pontica, modern Eregli, Turkey. The cup was once in the collection of J. Pierpont Morgan (hence its name). It came to the Museum in 1952 as the gift of Arthur A. Houghton
This cup is named for JP Morgan, the famous banker who once owned it. It is the only known ancient Roman cameo glass vessel that has survived intact. The scene shows worshippers at a shrine.
Listen as curator David Whitehouse describes the Morgan cup. The rarest and most elaborate luxury vessels of the early Roman Empire are cameo glasses. These objects were inspired by relief-cut gems of banded semiprecious stones, such as onyx. Glassmakers cased (covered) objects of one color with
Listen as glass artist William Gudenrath describes how this glass cup was made.
Listen as glass artist William Gudenrath describes the technique used to make the Morgan cup. The rarest and most elaborate luxury vessels of the early Roman Empire are cameo glasses. These objects were inspired by relief-cut gems of banded semiprecious stones, such as onyx. Glassmakers cased