Cage cup

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A Cage Cup, Greek diatreton, also vas diatretum, is a Roman luxury glass vessel. These diatreta consist of an inner beaker and an outer cage or shell of decoration that stands around of the body of the cup [1]

Munich Cage Cup from Cologne, 4th Century A.D.; exhibited in the Staatliche Antikensammlungen; the smooth joins show the fusion of the cage, though the cage is carved.
Munich Cage Cup from Cologne, 4th Century A.D.; exhibited in the Staatliche Antikensammlungen; the smooth joins show the fusion of the cage, though the cage is carved.

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[edit] Debates on technology and meaning

Cage cups, diatrea, are mentioned in Roman literature[2], and were produced around the mid-third to mid-fourth century AD, at the same time as the late Roman glass Cameo vessels. They appear to have been made of similar glasses, and there is also evidence that some late vessels may have been combinations of cameo and cage-cup techniques[3].

Since their first identification in 1680 it had been accepted that the cage cups were made by carving solid thick glass, but recently observations and experiment have shown that this is only true for the rim of the vessels and the cutting of the fixed cage, but not for the joining of beaker and its cage.

The purpose and meaning of cage cups is debated, but it is thought that the specific carving of the rim of the beakers and the missing stand of all known vessels should be understood in reference to the Corning Cage Cup to indicate that the cups in fact represent lamps, and their decoration and their inscriptions more or less refer to the transformation of Ampelos, preserved by the Dionysiaca of Nonnus. The same is true for the Lycurgus cup, as Donald Harden has shown.[4]

Cologne Cage Cup from the 4th Century A.D.; seen from above, the smooth joins of the uncarved fusion of the cage has to be distinguished from the carving of the rim and the cage.
Cologne Cage Cup from the 4th Century A.D.; seen from above, the smooth joins of the uncarved fusion of the cage has to be distinguished from the carving of the rim and the cage.

[edit] See also


[edit] External links

[edit] Literature

  • Harden, D. B.: Glass of the Caesars. Exh. cat., organized by: The Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, N. Y., The British Museum, London, Römisch-Germanisches Museum, Cologne; Olivetti, Milan, 1987.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Fleming, S.J., Roman Glass; reflections on cultural change. 1999, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
  2. ^ Martin, Susan Dunbar Imperitia: The Responsibility of Skilled Workers in Classical Roman Law American Journal of Philology - Volume 122, Spring 2001, pp. 107-129, in respect of a calicem diatretum- related law, mentioned by Ulpian
  3. ^ Whitehouse, D., Late Roman cameo glass, in Annales du 11e Congres. 1990: Amsterdam.
  4. ^ British Museum - Highlights