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Lot Essay
This glass beaker is an impressive example of Sasanian or Sasanian-inspired facet-cut decoration. The lattice pattern found here covering the whole length of the cylindrical shape was achieved by grinding the curved surface of the glass cylinder with slightly convex cutting wheels to produce areas that are flat or slightly concave.
Unusually, the facets on the present beaker are rectangular. Typical Sasanian cut glass objects have overall patterns of more-or-less hexagonal facets, often arranged in a quincunx and recalling the 'honeycomb' facets of Roman glass. Others have oval or circular facets. The rectangular facet is rare, and creates a much sharper, crisper effect. A beaker or lamp in the Corning Museum has bands of similar rectangular facets, though there they border semicircular arch-like cuts. That is of more sharply conical form, relating to earlier glass vessels, and is dated to the 4th or 5th century. It is said to come from Amlash in Northwestern Iran (David Whitehouse, Sasanian and Post Sasanian Glass in The Corning Museum of Glass, New York, 2005, no.60, p.53). Rectangular facets are then later found, generally as parts of larger decorative repertoires decorating glass vessels made in Iran in the 9th and 10th centuries, for example the upper band of the neck of a bottle in the Al-Sabah Collection (Stefano Carboni, Glass from Islamic Lands. The Al-Sabah Collection, London, 2001, cat.2.35, p.132). A small fragment of colourless, or near colourless glass that survives in the Corning Museum also has the remains of what seem to be rectangular facets. Unlike ours they are contained within larger rectangular facets, but demonstrate the glassmakers playing with different shapes. Although only a tiny fragment, the diameter of that beaker is estimated to be about 5.5cm., similar to ours. That is dated to the 9th or 10th century (David Whitehouse, Islamic Glass in The Corning Museum of Glass, vol.I, New York, 2010, no.51, p.42). Other fragments of similarly decorated glass were found in Nineveh (Kuyunjik), Iraq, now in the British Museum (D. B. Harden et al, Masterpieces of Glass, London, 1968, no. 136, p. 106), and at Qasr-i Abu Nasr, southern Iran (a fragment now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, D. S. Whitcomb, Before the Roses and the Nightingales. Excavations at Qasr-i Abu Nasr, Old Shiraz, New York, 1985, fig. 59e, pg. 158).
It would seem, however, that our beaker is more likely to date slightly earlier than the Corning fragment. The form is one that seems to be derived from Antiquity, and that is not widely continued into the early Islamic period. It seems to be a development of the form of flutes associate with the 3rd century (see for example Whitehouse, op.cit., 2005, no. 58, p.49). Although it has lost its foot, and the rim is no longer everted, the basic shape of the body with the base the curves inwards is the same. Another beaker, dated to the 4th-6th century and attributed to Iran, is of similar but slightly squatter form, perhaps chronicling the development of the form. That is in the Khalili Collection (Sidney M. Goldstein, Glass, Vol. XV, London, 2007, no.38, p.52-53). There Goldstein refers to the shape as being mostly from territories under Sassanian control (Goldstein, op.cit., p.53). The shape, which does not stand easily unless on a stand, does beg the question as to what the beakers were originally made for.
Unusually, the facets on the present beaker are rectangular. Typical Sasanian cut glass objects have overall patterns of more-or-less hexagonal facets, often arranged in a quincunx and recalling the 'honeycomb' facets of Roman glass. Others have oval or circular facets. The rectangular facet is rare, and creates a much sharper, crisper effect. A beaker or lamp in the Corning Museum has bands of similar rectangular facets, though there they border semicircular arch-like cuts. That is of more sharply conical form, relating to earlier glass vessels, and is dated to the 4th or 5th century. It is said to come from Amlash in Northwestern Iran (David Whitehouse, Sasanian and Post Sasanian Glass in The Corning Museum of Glass, New York, 2005, no.60, p.53). Rectangular facets are then later found, generally as parts of larger decorative repertoires decorating glass vessels made in Iran in the 9th and 10th centuries, for example the upper band of the neck of a bottle in the Al-Sabah Collection (Stefano Carboni, Glass from Islamic Lands. The Al-Sabah Collection, London, 2001, cat.2.35, p.132). A small fragment of colourless, or near colourless glass that survives in the Corning Museum also has the remains of what seem to be rectangular facets. Unlike ours they are contained within larger rectangular facets, but demonstrate the glassmakers playing with different shapes. Although only a tiny fragment, the diameter of that beaker is estimated to be about 5.5cm., similar to ours. That is dated to the 9th or 10th century (David Whitehouse, Islamic Glass in The Corning Museum of Glass, vol.I, New York, 2010, no.51, p.42). Other fragments of similarly decorated glass were found in Nineveh (Kuyunjik), Iraq, now in the British Museum (D. B. Harden et al, Masterpieces of Glass, London, 1968, no. 136, p. 106), and at Qasr-i Abu Nasr, southern Iran (a fragment now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, D. S. Whitcomb, Before the Roses and the Nightingales. Excavations at Qasr-i Abu Nasr, Old Shiraz, New York, 1985, fig. 59e, pg. 158).
It would seem, however, that our beaker is more likely to date slightly earlier than the Corning fragment. The form is one that seems to be derived from Antiquity, and that is not widely continued into the early Islamic period. It seems to be a development of the form of flutes associate with the 3rd century (see for example Whitehouse, op.cit., 2005, no. 58, p.49). Although it has lost its foot, and the rim is no longer everted, the basic shape of the body with the base the curves inwards is the same. Another beaker, dated to the 4th-6th century and attributed to Iran, is of similar but slightly squatter form, perhaps chronicling the development of the form. That is in the Khalili Collection (Sidney M. Goldstein, Glass, Vol. XV, London, 2007, no.38, p.52-53). There Goldstein refers to the shape as being mostly from territories under Sassanian control (Goldstein, op.cit., p.53). The shape, which does not stand easily unless on a stand, does beg the question as to what the beakers were originally made for.