Lot 155

Roman Glass Jar - Flared Rim with Iridescent Weathering

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Lot 155
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Roman Glass Jar - Flared Rim with Iridescent Weathering
Roman Glass Jar - Flared Rim with Iridescent Weathering
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Roman Glass Jar - Flared Rim with Iridescent Weathering

Estimate: $800 - $1,200

Current Bid: $400

(1 Bid)
by Artemis Fine Arts
August 6, 2026 9:00 AM MDT
Live Auction
686 S. Taylor Avenue
Suite 108
Louisville, CO, US 80027

Roman, Imperial period, ca. 100–300 CE. A free-blown vessel of pale aqua glass, its squat globular body swelling from a narrow neck to a widely flaring mouth finished with a folded, rounded rim. The gentle asymmetry of the profile records the breath and turn of the glassblower's pipe, a technique that revolutionized Roman workshops and made such small containers ubiquitous across the empire. Centuries of burial have veiled the surface in a milky weathering film, mottled with earthen deposits and enlivened by scattered sparkles of iridescence where the decayed glass refracts light in silvery flecks. Jars of this modest scale served domestic and cosmetic ends, holding unguents, ointments, or powders on a household shelf. Its quiet elegance lies in the interplay of translucent body and encrusted patina, an accident of time that the ancient maker could never have foreseen. Size: 3" D x 3.5" H (7.6 cm D x 8.9 cm H).

The invention of glassblowing in the eastern Mediterranean during the first century BCE transformed glass from a luxury into an everyday material. By the height of the Imperial period, workshops in Syria, the Levant, and Italy produced blown vessels in enormous quantity, and small jars like this one accompanied the living in their toilette and the dead in their tombs. The prismatic iridescence prized by modern collectors is not original but a product of chemical weathering: moisture leaches alkali from the glass, leaving microscopic layers that scatter light into shifting rainbow sheens.

Provenance: private Marysville, Washington, USA collection; ex-private Seattle, Washington, USA collection, acquired 1970-2000 via US and online auctions

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Item # 204056

  • Condition: Some minor chipping to rim, but, otherwise, intact and excellent with rich weathering film and scattered iridescence to surface.

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Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $299 $25
$300 $999 $50
$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,500
$50,000 $99,999 $5,000
$100,000 $199,999 $10,000
$200,000 + $20,000