Shallow Ribbed Bowl (50 BCE–100 CE): Art, History and Details

Shallow Ribbed Bowl (50 BCE–100 CE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Shallow ribbed glass bowls, often light blue, green, or turquoise in color, are a fairly common ancient glass vessel type. They were likely made by blowing or pressing molten glass into molds, sometimes leaving visible air bubbles within the glass matrix. After cooling, an artisan would rotate the bowl on a wheel or lathe, using a gentle abrasive to smooth out imperfections.

Object facts

• Title: Shallow Ribbed Bowl
• Date: 50 BCE–100 CE
• Culture: Roman, Eastern Mediterranean
• Type: Glass
• Technique: glass
• Dimensions: Overall: 4.2 x 12.6 cm (1 5/8 x 4 15/16 in.)
• Collection: GR - Roman
• Department: Greek and Roman Art
• Accession number: 1959.251

A detail from the museum

Shallow ribbed bowls could have multiple uses: eating, drinking, libations, and more.

Collection credit

Gift of the Estate of Edna M. Aldredge and Harriet G. Aldredge

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.