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Unknown Maker, Roman

Patella Cup

Maker

Unknown Maker, Roman

Culture

Roman

Title

Patella Cup

Period

Imperial (Roman)

Year

1st century BCE-1st century CE

Medium

  • glass,
  • mold-pressed

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • glass,
  • mold-pressed

Geography

Place Made: Eastern Mediterranean

Dimensions

Height: 4.8 cm (1 7/8 inches)

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of Mrs. Gustav Radeke

Object Number

11.768

Type

  • Glass

Publications

  • Journal

Manual / Issue 4: Blue

Exhibition History

Ancient Greek and Roman Galleries
Sep 22, 2010

Label copy

Most likely used as a small bowl or drinking cup, a patella typically features a convex bowl and a larger convex rim. This example was formed by a method known as mold-pressing, in which a sheet of molten glass is slumped into the hollow half of a mold and pressed into shape using the mold’s other half. The deep blue color of the cup was a common choice for glass in ancient times.

Glass from the Museum's Collection
Jan 17, 1973 – Mar 10, 1974

Image use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use.

Public Domain This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Unknown Maker, Roman
Patella Cup, 1st century BCE-1st century CE
Glass, mold-pressed
Height: 4.8 cm (1 7/8 inches)
Gift of Mrs. Gustav Radeke 11.768

To request new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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