Millefiori Bowl (1–100 CE): Art, History and Details

Millefiori Bowl (1–100 CE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Mosaic glass, also called millefiori, was cast in a two-part mold. Fused glass rods of different colors were bundled together into patterns, then sliced into disk-shaped cross sections. These were placed within the mold and heated until fused. After cooling, the vessel’s surface was fire- or wheel-polished.

Object facts

• Title: Millefiori Bowl
• Date: 1–100 CE
• Culture: Italy, Roman
• Type: Glass
• Technique: glass
• Dimensions: Overall: 3.8 x 8.8 cm (1 1/2 x 3 7/16 in.); Diameter of foot: 4 cm (1 9/16 in.)
• Collection: GR - Roman
• Department: Greek and Roman Art
• Accession number: 1919.10

A detail from the museum

Millefiori, Italian for “thousand flowers,” describes the ancient glass-making technique later revived by Venetian artisans.

Collection credit

General Income Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Anderson Galleries, Inc. New York. Ancient Works of Art....Collected by Azeez Khayat. January 31 - February 1, 1919. Lot 29
• "Accessions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 6, no. 2 (1919): 37-38.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.