Roman
Square mosaic glass pendant, Roman, circa 1st century BC - 1st century AD
Glass and gold
Length of pendant: 2.1 cm
Length of chain: 18 cm (adjustable to 16 cm)
Length of chain: 18 cm (adjustable to 16 cm)
A multicoloured Roman mosaic glass fragment, set in a bespoke modern 18 carat gold pendant.
A multicoloured Roman mosaic glass fragment, set in a bespoke modern 18 carat gold pendant.
Provenance
Alfred Theodore Arber-Cooke (c. 1905 - 1993) Collection, UK, thence by descentArber-Cooke was an antiquarian and avid collector of Antiquities and Asian works of art, principally collecting from the 1930s to the 1970s. He initially lived in Wimbledon, Greater London and was involved with local archaeological digs undertaken by the Surrey Archaeological Society. He wrote the book 'Old Wimbledon', with a foreword the MP Sir Arthur Fell, published in 1927. He later moved to Llandovery in Carmarthenshire, Wales, again involved with local archaeology and wrote the History of Llandovery, published in 1975
Literature
These vessel fragments come mainly from shallow bowls. They were manufactured in Rome during the first century BC and early first century AD and illustrate the diversity of Roman mosaic glass. Although mosaic glass had been invented by Hellenistic glassmakers in the second half of the third century BC, it was Roman glassmakers of the Augustan and Julio-Claudian periods who brought this technique to new heights.Roman mosaic vessels were made from sections or from lengths of polychrome mosaic glass canes that were cast in a mould before being fried. In some cases, the sections and lengths of the rods were intertwined together.