Opaque white glass patella

Period

Roman period, early 1st century A.D.

Dimension

H. 4.2 cm (1 ^21⁄32 in) Diam. 8.9 cm (3 ^1⁄2 in)

Collection Kofler Truniger, Switzerland, prior to 1985
Kofler Truniger collection, Lucerne, Ancient Glass Formerly in the Kofler-Truniger Collection,Christie's London, 5 & 6 March 1985, lot 167
Art market, London
Ishiguro collection, Japan
Christie's Antiquities, New York, 13 June 2000, lot 404
Private collection, Switzerland

M. Kunz (ed.)
3000 Jahre Glaskunst von der Antike bis zum Jugendstil, Kunstmuseum Luzern 19.7.-13.9.1981, no. 147

S.M. Goldstein
Pre-Roman and Early Roman Glass in the Corning Museum of Glass, Corning and New York, 1979, 144-145, no. 297; The Metropolitan Museum, accession number 13.198.3;

M. Kunz (ed.)
3000 Jahre Glaskunst von der Antike bis zum Jugendstil, Kunstmuseum Luzern 19.7.-13.9.1981, no. 148

Kunstmuseum Luzern, 3000 Jahre Glaskunst von der Antike bis zum Jugendstil, 19 July-13. September 1981

Price CHF 4,800

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The surface is smooth with a nice ancient patina. The deep hemispherical body is set on a ring foot and flares outward around the neck into an everted rim with broad lip

Note
The patella is a specific shape used for domestic purposes (it could contain sauces or condiments) or ritual offerings to the Lares - the household gods. Plautus describes these gods also as "patellari dii," the patella gods.