Vase or reliquary (?)

Object Details

• Description

  Vase, or reliquary (?); four sided.

  Blown glass, with dragged thread decoration.

  Opaque white on a translucent blue matrix.

• Provenance

  To 1909

  Giovanni Dattari (circa 1858-1923), Cairo, Egypt, to 1909 [1]

  From 1909 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Giovanni Dattari in 1909 [2]

  From 1920

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]

  Notes:

  [1] See S.I. 189, Miscellaneous List, Egyptian Glass, pgs. 1 and 42, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. This piece is part of a collection of glass that was purchased en bloc and includes 1,388 specimens (for further purchase information, see the folder for F1909.332).

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  A Collector’s Eye: Freer in Egypt (January 28, 2023 to 2025)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Giovanni Dattari (1858-1923) (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  Syria

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Vessel

• On View

  Freer Gallery 20: A Collector’s Eye: Freer in Egypt

• Restrictions and Rights

  CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  100s, 300s

• Name

  Dattari, Giovanni, Freer, Charles Lang

• Topic

  Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, Ancient Near Eastern Art, Glass dragging, Blow molding, Roman Period (30 BCE - 395 CE), Glassblowing

• Culture

  Middle Easterners, Syrians

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)

• On View

  Yes