Some things get better with age, and if you enjoy the surface of this delectable little (3.7 x 3.3 cm) gem in Cleveland perhaps you’d agree Roman glass is one of them.
Vessels and gems made in the cameo glass technique were in vogue only for about half a century beginning in Augustus’ reign. More fragile and perhaps less costly than counterparts in hard stone, this is a shockingly beautiful example showing the head of Diana (goddess of the hunt, the quiver poking over her shoulder the only attribute identifying that melancholy visage).
But while silica might be cheaper than luminous semi-precious stone (garnet, chalcedony, and agate I’m looking at you!), the craftsmanship displayed here is seriously fancy. At least four layers of coloured glass were fused together, and then delicately carved away to create Diana’s contrasting hair, skin, and so on.
I find the iridescence on the surface only enhances the appeal, but many serious glass aficionados would disagree…it is (to be bitchily blunt) damage: the slow and inexorable flaking off of infinitesimally thin layers of the the friable glass. A wondrous weathering and the beauty in the breakdown…
