Roman Purple-Colored Glass Ribbed Bowl with White Trail Decoration

This marvelous Roman period ribbed glass bowl with white trail decoration is a delightful example of a style that was popular in the early principate. While glassmaking had existed for two millennia prior to the Romans, having been pioneered by other cultures of the Mediterranean, it was not until the late Roman Republic that glassblowing was discovered as a method of mass--producing glass, and would stand as Rome’s great contribution to the art. Glass production flourished under the reign of Augustus, Rome’s first emperor, the method of glassblowing having been brought to Italy in this period. Originally, glass was a luxury item for the wealthy and this drove the industry to perfect more efficient and less expensive forms of mass--production. Glass blowing helped produce these conditions.