Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This note presents an exciting new identification concerning late Roman carved workshop makers’ marks on glass diatreta—a discovery that was hidden in plain sight. This is a preliminary result of a forthcoming comprehensive study of the abstracted, openwork symbols that sometimes accompany an inscription. On glass objects, if mentioned at all in past scholarship, they have been misleadingly referred to only as “stop-marks” designed to ornamentally frame an adjacent inscription. By instead approaching these symbols as imagistic script, a visualized form of the presentation of writing, their communicative purposes can be better recognized along with their producers. Through this approach, two remarkably similar glass openwork vessels—each with an identical symbol—and a possible third vessel with a nearly identical symbol and a related design have been identified. Together they represent compelling evidence of makers’ marks and workshop production.
Source: Journal of Glass Studies
DOI: 10.3998/jgs.6943
Author: Hallie G. Meredith
Institution: Washington State University
Language: English
Subfield: Archeology
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4409154891