A SASSANIAN FREE-BLOWN TRANSPARENT GLASS BEAKER
Iran, 4th - 5th century

Of conical shape with a tapering narrow base, the sides plain except for a band of small applied cobalt-blue glass decorative ovals, the body with a thick layer of iridescence throughout, 17cm high.

Provenance: Sotheby's London, 20 May 1985, part of lot 38.

Three glass beakers of similar shape and ascribed to the Sassanian / early Byzantine period are part of the Corning Museum of Glass permanent collection (see David Whitehouse, Sassanian and post Sassanian Glass in the Corning Museum of Glass, New York, 2005, nos. 60 - 63, pp. 51 - 54). Similar examples have also been successfully selling at auctions in Europe and the USA. For further reference, please see Christie's London, 17 April 2007, lot 51; and Christie's New York, 8 June, 2012, lot 163.