Cup with Pinched Decoration

Collection number	ガ102-1143
Provenance	Mesopotamia
Period	Early Sasanian period
Date	3rd- 4th Century A.D.
Material	Glass
Dimension	D. 10.9 cm
Comment	A free-blown bowl in pale green transparent glass with fire-polished mouth rim. The hemispherical body, which narrows below the mouth rim, is decorated with three rows of protrusions. The middle of the body is decorated with two rows of small and large protrusions pulled out with a tool, and a row of small protrusions has been pulled out around the circumference of the base to form a foot. The pale green glass contains many of bubbles, but there is relatively little weathering of the surface. It had been broken into several fragments, but has been completely rebuilt. Similar protruding decorations and the same quality of workmanship have been reported of artifacts from the Hassani Mahale Grave No. 7 in Gilan Province in northwest Iran, at Tell Mahfouz in northern Mesopotamia (third to fourth century), ed-Dur in the United Arab Emirates (third century), and the tomb of Hua Fang in China (interred in 307). Said to originate in Gilan Province in Iran, this bowl and many similar artifacts have found their way to Japan, where they had often been dated to the Parthian era. This type of glass bowl however, is Sasanian Dynasty, made in Mesopotamia.
Classification	glass vessel
Keyword	Green,Clear Pretty,Soft Western Asia,Iran,North Glass Vessel,Bowl Pattern,Circle/Ellipse