Toh Gen Kyo vol.31 - MIHO MUSEUM

Gold Band Bottle
Italy, 1st century B.C.–1st century A.D.
Hirayama Ikuo Silk Road Museum

Covered in blue, green, amber, white, and gold leaf, this piece is an outstanding example of the numerous marbled glass that were produced. Imitating the decorative striped patterns of marble, artisans produced colors that perhaps surpassed those found in nature.
This vessel appears to have been used as a perfume bottle. This luxurious work is among the rare and costly works of glass made around beginning of the Common Era.

Bowl with Cut Decoration
Sasanian Persia, 5th–7th century A.D.
Hirayama Ikuo Silk Road Museum

This precious piece rivals the Hakururi-no-wan (white lapis lazuli bowel) of the Shōsō-in Repository. When you look into it, each cut in the glass glistens and reflects off one another, creating a dazzling effect distinctive to glass. Made in the Sasanian Empire, this bowl was brought to Japan from the distant Silk Road. Fragments of this glass have been excavated from as far east as Japan.
The bowl was formed out of thick blown glass and cut and polished after being cooled. Even with today’s machines and technology, it would take several weeks to cut and polish, revealing the painstaking efforts of the ancient artisan. Its universal design, the efforts necessary for its transportation, and its geometric design, which was well received in any culture, appear to have made this work an excellent export.

Bowl
Eastern Mediterranean region,
2st century B.C.–1st century A.D.
MIHO MUSEUM

Iridescence causes stratification and refraction of light on the surface of glass as it ages. Although it is a coincidental color produced by time, the unimaginable natural hues exhibit a beautiful radiance that convinces us that nature is beyond compare. This bowl had a light brown color when it was first made, however, the platinum covering the exterior with the shining argentation and the combination of purple and green below the base in which the silver coat came off created this amazing effect.