Glass female figure, Carthage, 400-300 BC
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Executed in opaque nearly black glass, this exquisite miniature portrait details the profile of a young woman with long tresses of wavy hair partially pulled back in a bun. Some of her hair cascades down her back over the knotted tunic. Her rounded neckline and light corsage compliment her youthful figure. She gazes through half-opened eyes. Her nose is elegantly thin. Her lips are drawn in a discreet smile. The softness of her jawline denotes her youth. What beauty, refinement, and what an artist for this miniature work of art! Parallels: “S. Antioco, Collezione Biggio, Glass. 2.2 cm. Pendant with double female protome, from Sulcis. 4th-3rd century BC” (Moscati 1988:483). “Glass: Maria Luisa Uberti says: The figure pendants discovered at Tharros are numerous and varied… The pendant types (including the examples from Tharros now in the British Museum and the Louvre) are as follows: demon head; male negroid head with curly locks of hair… female human head with curly hair or hair wrapped in a headdress; two-faced monochrome female head with long tresses of wavy hair of the type found in Sicily and Ibiza (Tharros, Sulcis, Cagliary, Tuvixeddu necropolis)… One of the problems of Phoenician glass is always establishing when and from where glassware was imported. We must be cautious in attributing to local industry a craft which requires not only technical expertise (which can be brought by immigrant craftsmen) but also and more importantly specific equipment and raw materials combined in the correct proportions, areas in which we still have no information” (Moscati 1988:482-483). Bibliography (for this item)Moscati, Sabatino1988 The Phoenicians. Abbeville Press, New York, NY. (482-483) |
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