Page 101 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 13(2) (2025)

fine its form, but most probably, it was a drink-
ing vessel, produced in the Claudian-Neronian
period, like other cups with floral or similar dec-
oration (Price 1991, 68). A possible comparison
to its form and vegetal decoration is a complete-
ly preserved cup from Emona grave no. 5 (1280),
dated to the second half of the 1st century (Petru
1972, 116, pl. 118, 3; Lazar 2004, 55, no. 23).
It is also worth mentioning two mould-
blown base fragments of balsamaria. They were
made of a yellowish glass and blown in the form
of a grape (Fadić 1982, 117, fig. 1, fig. 33, and fig.
34). Due to their small size (body height 2.8 and 101
1.5 cm), we may assume they belonged to a form
Isings 78e. These small vessels, mostly without
handles, were produced in the 1st century, with
the first products appearing in the second half
of the 1st century (Moirin and Arveiller 2010,
215; Goethert-Polaschek 1977). The vessels were
Figure 9: Fragment of a Mould-Blown Cylindrical Beak-
er with Vegetal Decoration (photo by Monika Petrović, most often blown from naturally coloured, yel-
2025) low or blue glass, but also from opaque white
glass. Their size did not exceed 10 cm in height.
A wide variety of these beakers was pub- They can be found in settlement contexts and
lished from France (Fontaine and Roussel-Ode also as grave goods; among other places, they
2010, 184). The published finds are made of are known from sites in Italy (Pompeii, Aqui-
coloured and naturally coloured glass, with var- leia), Spain, France, and Germany (Moirin and
ious types of decoration (Fontaine and Rous- Arveiller 2010, 221–4).
sel-Ode 2010, fig. 5, 6). The beaker from Osor is Selected Glass Finds from Apsorus (Osor) – Reflection of Wealth and Prestige
similar to finds from Zaton in Zadar (Gluščević Early Blown Glass
1986, 256, pl. 1, 2), the Gulf of Fos (no. 44 and The mould-made techniques went out of use in
Ruscino, no. 49), comparisons are also known the first decades of the 1st century AD (except
from Rome, Augst and Aquileia (Fontaine and for ribbed bowls), and costly products were re-
Roussel-Ode 2010, 184), Pompeii and Hercu- placed with new ones.
laneum (Stern 1995, 104). Several beakers with The discovery of free blowing in the 1st cen-
more elaborate boss decoration and the addition tury BC caused gradual changes in glassmak-
of theatrical masks are known from Liburnian ing. The discovery of glass blowing caused the
sites in Croatia, such as Asseria (Fadić 2005, 78, rapid spread of cheaper and more available free-
86, figs. 1–3). blown products, and in the course of the 1st cen-
They were in use from the mid- to the sec- tury AD, glass became, more or less, a commod-
ond half of the 1st century, but less is known ity for all.
about when the form went out of use. The Zarte Rippenschalen were one of the
The third find is a fragment of a cylindrical earliest free-blown products known in all the
beaker or cup with vegetal decoration (pl. 1, 6). provinces of the Empire. Marianne E. Stern
On the wall and rim, we can recognise the line placed them among the so-called vessels explor-
where the two parts of the mould were put to- ing the blow-pipe, i. e., among the products made
gether (fig. 9). The fragment is too small to de- in the period from 30 BC to 50 AD (2001, 43).