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The Schefler Collection (Lots 68-110)
Lot 94*

A Roman pale blue glass animal-headed rhyton

4 December 2025, 11:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street

£5,000 - £7,000

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A Roman pale blue glass animal-headed rhyton

Circa 1st Century A.D.
29cm long

Footnotes

Provenance:
Schefler Collection, New York, acquired between 1969-2000.

It is possible that the head of this rhyton could represent a snail, since they were considered by the Romans to be a delicacy. The historian Pliny the Elder mentions a farmer harvesting snails, no doubt to provide dishes for wealthy banqueteers such as the one depicted in the fresco at Pompeii.

For a similar rhyton, cf. Mandruzzato & Marcante (eds.), Vetri Antichi del Museo Archaeologico Nazionale de Aquileia Il vasellame de mensa, 2005, p. 51 and p. 113, no. 330. There is also a footed example with horned spout, dated to A.D. 75-125, in the Corning Museum of Glass, acc.no.87.1.2.

Additional information