R2

Roman rare glass fish head

A rare pale green glass depiction of a fish with crimped fins and applied eyes, the mouth is open from the hollow body suggesting that this was the spout of an elaborate vessel.

Roman, Eastern Mediterranean, c. 3rd Century AD

Size: 3 x 1.8 cms

Fragment as shown; there is a crack (visible in the images) and one side retains a fragment of glass fused to the side (possibly part of a vessel onto which the fish was mounted as decoration). The exterior and interior surfaces both have extensive silver iridescence.

Acquired in the UK trade, reputedly found in Macedonia.

Other fish-shaped vessels are recorded in the Kofler-Truniger collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Corning museum of Glass but extant examples are probably limited to a few dozen, nearly all restored or extensively repaired.