More About Glass

The ancient aryballos was used as an unguent bottle to hold scented oils. The small handles and the round base meant it would be carried on a string for personal use. The aryballos is an example of a core-formed vessel, made by forming the glass vessel around a hard earthen core in the shape of the cavity. The modern counterpart to the aryballos is Charle's Lotton's Red Vase, seen here, which is a blown glass piece which features a similar festoon design to the ancient vessel. This similarity shows the legacy of ancient objects in modern art glass.

The Roman piriform bottle is contrasted with Kurt Wallstab’s Vessel, seen here, because of the similar nature of their shapes. Both objects use multicolored glass canes to incorporate different colors into the fabric of the bottle, rather than applied trails, and the finished pieces have smooth surfaces. Roman glassmakers made the piriform bottle with the blowing technique. In contrast, Vessel was created by flameworking, which utilizes a small burner to manipulate and form a variety of differing objects. The swirling and colorful designs draw attention to the overall shape of both ancient and modern vessels while making them more visually complex.

Unlike at the Greek symposium, wives were allowed to attend Roman dinner parties, or convivia. Great measures would be taken by the host to provide elaborate foods and entertainment. Often, live fish like red mullet would be brought to the table in glass vessels of sea water to provide a shocking spectacle to dinner guests. Diners watched as the creature gradually died from hypoxia (oxygen starvation) before it would be prepared for consumption. The variation of colors from bright orange to blue-gray on this fish and its look of anxiety could be an example of this practice.