isgandar:The Lycurgus Cup is a Roman glass cage cup, made of a dichroic glass, which shows a differe
isgandar:The Lycurgus Cup is a Roman glass cage cup, made of a dichroic glass, which shows a different colour depending on whether or not light is passing through it; red when lit from behind and green when lit from in front. It is the only complete Roman glass object made from this type of glass, and the one exhibiting the most impressive change in colourThe cup is also a very rare example of a complete Roman cage-cup, or diatretum, where the glass has been painstakingly cut and ground back to leave only a decorative “cage” at the original surface-level. Many parts of the cage have been completely undercut. Most cage-cups have a cage with a geometric abstract design, but here there is a composition with figures, showing the mythical King Lycurgus, who tried to kill Ambrosia, a follower of the god Bacchus. She was transformed into a vine that twined around the enraged king and restrained him, eventually killing him. Bacchus and two followers are shown taunting the king. The cup was perhaps made in Alexandria or Rome in about 290-325 AD. From its excellent condition it is probable that, like several other luxury Roman objects, it has always been preserved above ground; most often such objects ended up in the relatively secure environment of a church treasury. Alternatively it might, like several other cage cups, have been recovered from a sarcophagus. The present gilt-bronze rim and foot were added in about 1800, suggesting it was one of the many objects taken from church treasuries during the period of the French Revolution and French Revolutionary Wars. The foot continues the theme of the cup with open-work vine leaves, and the rim has leaf forms that lengthen and shorten to match the scenes in glass. -- source link
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