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Museum Purchase: Stark-Willson Collection.
Cup
Museum Purchase: Stark-Willson Collection.
Contact us at copyright@samuseum.org for rights and reproduction of this image. Photography by Ansen Seale.

Cup

DepartmentAncient Mediterranean Art
CultureRoman
Dateearly 1st century A.D.
MediumGlass
Dimensionsheight: 1 11/16 in. (4.3 cm)
diameter of rim: 3 3/4 in. (9.5 cm)
diameter of foot: 1 3/4 in. (4.4 cm)
Credit LineMuseum Purchase: Stark-Willson Collection
Object number86.138.331
DescriptionCast patella cup of opaque ruby red glass. Double-convex form, with the upper bulge rather small and angular. Thin, flat rim and low, angular, added coil foot. Sharp articulation of the various sections. The rim was ground with a lathe, and the interior of the vessel polished.Label TextFine tableware in the Roman world included vessels in glass as well as other materials such as silver, bronze, and pottery. These glass drinking cups were cast in molds to create crisp shapes with precisely curved contours—a form made in pottery as well as glass. Glassmakers fashioned opaque cups like this one in vivid colors, including blue, green, white, and the striking dark red of this example. (J. Powers, 2025)Provenanceby purchase, the Stark family, Orange, Texas, between 1927 and 1929; by bequest, the Nelda C. and H. J. Lutcher Stark Foundation, 1965; by purchase, the San Antonio Museum of Art with funding from Mr. and Mrs. Robert Willson, 1986Exhibition History"Poor Man's Crystal: Utilitarian Glass from Ancient Rome, ca. 50 B.C. - A.D. 450," Wesleyan University, Connecticut, March 28 - May 25, 2003.

“Mediterráneo—Egipto, Grecia y Roma: Vidrio, Escultura y Relieves de la Antigüedad Clasica,” Museo del Vidrio, Monterrey, Mexico, Apr. 27-Nov. 7, 2004.Published ReferencesC. R. Richardson, Poor Man's Crystal: Utilitarian Glass from Ancient Rome, ca. 50 B.C. - A.D. 450 (San Antonio, 2003), cat. no. 7a.
On view
Collections
Museum Purchase: Stark-Willson Collection
Cup
Culture: Roman
late 1st century B.C.-early 1st century A.D.
San Antonio Museum of Art, Museum Purchase: Stark-Willson Collection.
Large jug with geometric patterns
Culture: Roman
3rd-4th century A.D.
Purchased with funds provided by Mrs. Marie Smith Schwartz.
Beaker
Culture: Roman
1st century A.D.
San Antonio Museum of Art, Purchased with funds provided by the Grace Fortner Rider Fund.
Perfume or oil bottle
Culture: Egyptian
ca. 1295-1069 B.C.
Museum purchase: Stark-Willson Collection.
Perfume or oil bottle
Culture: Greek
late 6th-5th century B.C.
Museum Purchase: Stark-Willson Collection.
Oil or perfume bottle
Culture: Eastern Mediterranean
2nd-1st century B.C.
Shallow Dish
Shallow Dish
Culture: Roman
4th century A.D.
Museum Purchase: Stark-Willson Collection.
Perfume Flask
9th-10th century A.D.
Purchased with funds provided by the Bessie Timon Endowment Fund.
Plaque
Culture: Liao, Khitan
10th century
The Robert K. Winn Collection.
Double-spouted bridge vessel in the form of a male porter
Unknown
Culture: Lima-Nievería/Provincial Wari
ca. A.D. 600-1000
San Antonio Museum of Art, Museum Purchase: Stark-Willson Collection.
Lamp
Culture: Roman
4th - 5th century A.D.
San Antonio Museum of Art, Purchased with the Grace Fortner Rider Fund.
Griffin Attachment from a Cauldron
Culture: Greek
ca. 650-620 B.C.

The San Antonio Museum of Art is in the process of digitizing its permanent collection. This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect SAMA's complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of such records is ongoing.

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