Object D24, a small glass bottle, likely Islamic, is an example of glassware created using cold working techniques (techniques that don’t require heat – like grinding, carving, engraving, and polishing). Glassblowers and glasscutters worked together to create the facets, or flat surfaces, on pieces like this. First, a glassblower would create a hollow, thick-walled blank (plain object), adding de-coloring agents to transform the glass’s natural light green color to clear. After this, a glasscutter would create the facets on a lathe or by using handheld tools. Facet cutting could be used to alter the shape of glassware, as in the case of object D24, or could be conducted in a more decorative manner, producing delicate lines and curves to create an intricate design on the surface of the vessel. The facet cuts on D24 are clear, evident in the piece’s well-defined octagonal body and seven-sided neck.
-Jinette Jimenez ‘21, JIAAW Records and Collections Assistant
In Egypt, the Near East, and Iran, the Muslims found flourishing glass industries, which continued to produce large quantities of objects for daily use.
Cold-cut glass became the most prominent artistic form of decoration in the early Islamic period, especially in the ninth and tenth centuries. While this lapidary technique is as old as glassmaking itself, dating well before glassblowing was invented, Roman and Sasanian cut glass (from eastern Mediterranean and Iranian areas, respectively) provided immediate models.
Description Glass beaker; semi-transparent light greyish green; almost cylindrical, tapering to a lightly rounded, possibly almost flat, base; cut facets in three registers; possibly showing a fire altar beneath two rows of arcading. Curator’s comments This has been previously described as a vase, phial, lamp or beaker.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1959. “Additions to the Collections: Near Eastern Art.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 18 (2), Eighty-Ninth Annual Report of the Trustees for the Fiscal Year 1958-1959 (Oct., 1959), p. 62. Corning Museum of Glass. 1960. “Recent Important Acquisitions made by public and private collections.”
Cup; Unknown; Eastern Mediterranean; 3rd-4th century A.D.; Glass; 8.1 × 11.2 cm (3 3/16 × 4 7/16 in.); 2004.38; The J. Paul Getty Museum, Villa Collection, Malibu, California; Rights Statement: No Copyright – United States
