Roman Glass-making

Fragment of a Partho-
Sasanian faceted bowl

Greenish glass now devitrified and opaque
D. 10.5 cm
Second century AD
Seleucia (UM excavations)
KM 36358

Whole vessels of forms similar to our fragment excavated at Seleucia have been found in Japan. One was buried with the Emperor Ankan in A.D. 535. Unlike the devitrified examples found in the Middle East, the cut-glass vessels exported to Japan are still in pristine condition--their facets dazzling like so many mirrors.

To date, no actual examples of such western ware have been found in China; but on a painted silk banner from the Buddhist caves at Tun Huang, a Boddhisatva holds one of these Partho-Sasanian faceted bowls so that his hand is visible through the sparkling pale green glass. Thus, this striking portrayal vividly documents the presence of western glass at a remote outpost along the Central Asian Silk Route.

Further evidence of the Chinese interest in glass from the world of Rome comes in the form of lyrical poems composed by the nobility in praise of such luxury vessels which had ". . . braved the perils of the desert's limitless wastes, / And crossed the towering, precipitous Pamirs" in order to grace their tables:

Despite the vernal splendor of its hue,
Its clarity surpasses the purest winter ice.
There vessels are produced as though ceramic,
And their rare foreign shapes richly embellished.