50AD Original Authentic Ancient ROMAN GLASS VASE Urn Vessel Artifact RARE i56181

Item: i56181

Authentic Ancient

Roman Glass Vase from circa 50-250 A.D.
9.5 x 6.5 cm (102.82 grams)

Provenance: From private collection in the United 
States of America.
Ownership History: From private collection in the United States, bought in 
private sale in the United States of America.

You are bidding on the exact 

Guarantee of Authenticity.

Roman glass 
objects have been recovered across the
Roman Empire
in domestic, industrial and
funerary
contexts.
Glass
was used primarily for the production of 
vessels, although mosaic tiles and window glass were also produced. Roman glass 
production developed from
Hellenistic
technical traditions, initially 
concentrating on the production of intensely coloured cast glass vessels. 
However, during the 1st century AD the industry underwent rapid technical growth 
that saw the introduction of glass blowing and the dominance of colourless or 
‘aqua’ glasses. Production of raw glass was undertaken in geographically 
separate locations to the working of glass into finished vessels, and by the end 
of the 1st century AD large scale manufacturing resulted in the establishment of 
glass as a commonly available material in the Roman world, and one which also 
had technically very difficult specialized types of luxury glass, which must 
have been very expensive.

Growth of 
the Roman glass industry

 

Despite the growth of
glass working in the Hellenistic World
and the 
growing place of glass in
material culture
, at the beginning of the 1st 
century AD there was still no Latin word for it in the Roman World. However, 
glass was being produced in Roman contexts using primarily
Hellenistic
techniques and styles (see
glass, history
) by the late
Republican
period. The majority of 
manufacturing techniques were time-consuming, and the initial product was a 
thick-walled vessel which required considerable finishing. This, combined with 
the cost of importing
natron
for the production of raw glass, 
contributed to the limited use of glass and its position as an expensive and 
high-status material.

The glass industry was therefore a relatively minor craft during the 
Republican period; although, during the early decades of the 1st century AD the 
quantity and diversity of glass vessels available increased dramatically. This 
was a direct result of the massive growth of the Roman influence at the end of 
the Republican period, the
Pax Romana
that followed the decades of civil 
war, and the stabilisation of the state that occurred under
Augustus
’ rule. Still, Roman glasswares were 
already making their way from
Western Asia
(i.e. the
Parthian Empire
) to the
Kushan Empire
in Afghanistan and India and as 
far
Han Empire
of
China
; the
first Roman glass found in China
came from
an early 1st-century BC tomb
at
Guangzhou
.

In addition to this a major new technique in glass production had been 
introduced during the 1st century AD.
Glassblowing
allowed glass workers to produce 
vessels with considerably thinner walls, decreasing the amount of glass needed 
for each vessel. Glass blowing was also considerably quicker than other 
techniques, and vessels required considerably less finishing, representing a 
further saving in time, raw material and equipment. Although earlier techniques 
dominated during the early Augustan and
Julio-Claudian
periods, by the middle to late 
1st century AD earlier techniques had been largely abandoned in favour of 
blowing.

As a result of these factors, the cost of production was reduced and glass 
became available for a wider section of society in a growing variety of forms. 
By the mid-1st century AD this meant that glass vessels had moved from a 
valuable, high-status commodity, to a material commonly available: “a [glass] 
drinking cup could be bought for a copper coin” (Strabo,
Geographica
XVI.2). This growth also saw the 
production of the first glass
tesserae
for mosaics, and the first window 
glass, as furnace technology improved allowing molten glass to be produced for 
the first time. At the same time, the expansion of the empire also brought an 
influx of people and an expansion of cultural influences that resulted in the 
adoption of eastern decorative styles. The changes that took place in the Roman 
glass industry during this period can therefore be seen as a result of three 
primary influences: historical events, technical innovation and contemporary 
fashions. They are also linked to the fashions and technologies developed in the 
ceramic trade, from which a number of forms and techniques were drawn.

 

 

Glass making reached its peak at the beginning of the 2nd century AD, with 
glass objects in domestic contexts of every kind. The primary production 
techniques of blowing, and to a lesser extent casting, remained in use for the 
rest of the Roman period, with changes in vessel types but little change in 
technology. From the 2nd century onwards styles became increasingly 
regionalised, and evidence indicates that bottles and closed vessels such as 
unguentaria moved as a by-product of the trade in their contents, and many 
appear to have matched the Roman scale of liquid measurement. The use of 
coloured glass as a decorative addition to pale and colourless glasses also 
increased, and metal vessels continued to influence the shape of glass vessels. 
After the conversion of Constantine, glass works began to move more quickly from 
depicting Pagan religious imagery towards Christian religious imagery. The 
movement of the capital to
Constantinople
rejuvenated the Eastern glass 
industry, and the presence of the
Roman military
in the western provinces did 
much to prevent any downturn there. By the mid-4th century mould-blowing was in 
use only sporadically.

Roman glass production

Composition

 

Roman glass production relied on the application of heat to fuse two primary 
ingredients: silica and soda. Technical studies of archaeological glasses divide 
the ingredients of glass as formers, fluxes, stabilisers, as well as possible 
opacifiers or colourants.

• Former: The major component of the glass is silica, which during 
  the Roman period was
  sand
  (quartz), which contains some
  alumina
  (typically 2.5%) and nearly 8%
  lime
  . Alumina contents vary, peaking around 
  3% in glasses from the
  western Empire
  , and remaining notably lower 
  in glasses from the Middle East.
• Flux: This ingredient was used to lower the
  melting point
  of the silica to form glass. 
  Analysis of Roman glass has shown that soda (sodium 
  carbonate) was used exclusively in glass production. During this 
  period, the primary source of soda was
  natron
  , a naturally occurring salt found in 
  dry lake beds. The main source of natron during the Roman period was
  Wadi El Natrun
  , Egypt, although there may 
  have been a source in Italy.
• Stabiliser: Glasses formed of silica and soda are naturally 
  soluble, and require the addition of a stabiliser such as lime or magnesia. 
  Lime was the primary stabiliser in use during the Roman period, entering the 
  glass through
  calcareous
  particles in the beach sand, 
  rather than as a separate component.

Roman glass has also been shown to contain around 1% to 2% chlorine, in 
contrast to later glasses. This is thought to have originated either in the 
addition of salt (NaCl) to reduce the melting temperature and viscosity of the 
glass, or as a contaminant in the natron.

Glass making

 

Archaeological evidence for glass making during the Roman period is scarce, 
but by drawing comparisons with the later
Islamic
and
Byzantine
periods, it is clear that glass 
making was a significant industry. By the end of the Roman period glass was 
being produced in large quantities contained in tanks situated inside highly 
specialised furnaces, as the 8-tonne glass slab recovered from
Bet She’arim
illustrates. These workshops could 
produce many tonnes of raw glass in a single furnace firing, and although this 
firing might have taken weeks, a single primary workshop could potentially 
supply multiple secondary glass working sites. It is therefore thought that raw 
glass production was centred around a relatively small number of workshops, 
where glass was produced on a large scale and then broken into chunks. There is 
only limited evidence for local glass making, and only in context of window 
glass. The development of this large-scale industry is not fully understood, but
Pliny’s Natural History
(36, 194), in addition 
to evidence for the first use of molten glass in the mid-1st century AD, 
indicates that furnace technologies experienced marked development during the 
early-to-mid-1st century AD, in tandem with the expansion of glass production.

The siting of glass-making workshops was governed by three primary factors: 
the availability of fuel which was needed in large quantities, sources of sand 
which represented the major constituent of the glass, and natron to act as a 
flux. Roman glass relied on natron from Wadi El Natrun, and as a result it is 
thought that glass-making workshops during the Roman period may have been 
confined to near-coastal regions of the eastern
Mediterranean
. This facilitated the trade in 
the raw colourless or naturally coloured glass which they produced, which 
reached glass-working sites across the Roman empire.

The scarcity of archaeological evidence for Roman glass-making facilities has 
resulted in the use of chemical compositions as evidence for production models, 
as the division of production indicates that any variation is related to 
differences in raw glass making. However, the Roman reliance on natron from Wadi 
El Natrun as a flux, has resulted in a largely homogenous composition in the 
majority of Roman glasses. Despite the publication of major analyses, 
comparisons of chemical analyses produced by different analytical methods have 
only recently been attempted, and although there is some variation in Roman 
glass compositions, meaningful compositional groups have been difficult to 
establish for this period.

Recycling

The Roman writers
Statius
and
Martial
both indicate that recycling broken 
glass was an important part of the glass industry, and this seems to be 
supported by the fact that only rarely are glass fragments of any size recovered 
from domestic sites of this period. In the western empire there is evidence that 
recycling of broken glass was frequent and extensive(cullet), and that 
quantities of broken glassware were concentrated at local sites prior to melting 
back into raw glass. Compositionally, repeated recycling is visible via elevated 
levels of those metals used as colourants.

Melting does not appear to have taken place in crucibles; rather, cooking 
pots appear to have been used for small scale operations. For larger work, large 
tanks or tank-like ceramic containers were utilised. In the largest cases, large 
furnaces were built to surround these tanks.

Glass working

In comparison to glass making, there is evidence for glass working in many 
locations across the empire. Unlike the making process, the working of glass 
required significantly lower temperatures and substantially less fuel. As a 
result of this and the expansion of the Empire, glass working sites developed in 
Rome, Campania and the Po Valley by the end of the 1st century BC, producing the 
new blown vessels alongside cast vessels. Italy is known to have been a centre 
for the working and export of brightly coloured vessels at this time, with 
production peaking during the mid-1st century AD.

By the early-to-mid-1st century AD, the growth of the Empire saw the 
establishment of glass working sites at locations along trade routes, with 
Cologne and other Rhineland centres becoming important glass working sites from 
the Imperial period, and Syrian glass being exported as far as Italy. During 
this period vessel forms varied between workshops, with areas such as the 
Rhineland and northern France producing distinctive forms which are not seen 
further south. Growth in the industry continued into the 3rd century AD, when 
sites at the Colonia Claudia Agrippinensis appear to have experienced 
significant expansion, and by the 3rd and early 4th centuries producers north of 
the Alps were exporting down to the north of Italy and the transalpine regions.

Glass working sites such as those at Aquileia also had an important role in 
the spread of glassworking traditions and the trade in materials that used 
hollow glasswares as containers. However, by the 4th and 5th centuries Italian 
glass workshops predominate.

Styles

The earliest Roman glass follows Hellenistic traditions and uses strongly 
coloured and ‘mosaic’ patterned glass. During the late Republican period new 
highly coloured striped wares with a fusion of dozens of monochrome and 
lace-work strips were introduced. During this period there is some evidence that 
styles of glass varied geographically, with the translucent coloured fine wares 
of the early 1st century notably ‘western’ in origin, whilst the later 
colourless fine wares are more ‘international’. These objects also represent the 
first with a distinctly Roman style unrelated to the Hellenistic casting 
traditions on which they are based, and are characterised by novel rich colours. 
‘Emerald’ green, dark or
cobalt blue
, a deep blue-green and Persian or 
‘peacock’ blue are most commonly associated with this period, and other colours 
are very rare. Of these, Emerald green and peacock blue were new colours 
introduced by the Romano-Italian industry and almost exclusively associated with 
the production of fine wares.

However, during the last thirty years of the 1st century AD there was a 
marked change in style, with strong colours disappearing rapidly, replaced by 
‘aqua’ and true colourless glasses. Colourless and ‘aqua’ glasses had been in 
use for vessels and some mosaic designs prior to this, but start to dominate the 
blown glass market at this time. The use of strong colours in cast glass died 
out during this period, with colourless or ‘aqua’ glasses dominating the last 
class of cast vessels to be produced in quantity, as mould and free-blowing took 
over during the 1st century AD.

From around 70 AD colourless glass becomes the predominant material for fine 
wares, and the cheaper glasses move towards pale shades of blue, green, and 
yellow. Debate continues whether this change in fashion indicates a change in 
attitude that placed glass as individual material of merit no longer required to 
imitate precious stones, ceramics, or metal, or whether the shift to colourless 
glass indicated an attempt to mimic highly prized rock crystal.
Pliny’s Natural History
states that “the most 
highly valued glass is colourless and transparent, as closely as possible 
resembling rock crystal” (36, 192), which is thought to support this last 
position, as is evidence for the persistence of casting as a production 
technique, which produced the thickly walled vessels necessary to take the 
pressure of extensive cutting and polishing associated with crystal working.

Vessel 
production techniques

Core and rod 
formed vessels

Artisans used a mass of mud and straw fixed around a metal rod to form a 
core, and built up a vessel by either dipping the core in liquified glass, or by 
trailing liquid glass over the core. The core was removed after the glass had 
cooled, and handles, rims and bases were then added. These vessels are 
characterised by relatively thick walls, bright colours and zigzagging patterns 
of contrasting colours, and were limited in size to small
unguent
or scent containers. This early 
technique continued in popularity during the 1st century BC, despite the earlier 
introduction of
slumped
and
cast
vessels.

Cold-cut vessels

This technique is related to the origin of glass as a substitute for
gemstones
. By borrowing techniques for stone 
and
carved gems
, artisans were able to produce a 
variety of small containers from blocks of raw glass or thick moulded blanks, 
including
cameo glass
in two or more colours, and
cage cups
(still thought by most scholars to 
have been decorated by cutting, despite some debate).

Glass blowing: free and mould blown vessels

These techniques, which were to dominate the Roman glass working industry 
after the late 1st century AD, are discussed in detail on the
glass blowing
page. Mould-blown glass appears 
in the second quarter of the 1st century AD.