Watercolor on paper, 22” x 30”
This piece was a custom contract for the Corning Museum of Glass. It is a recreation of an archaeological assemblage of Roman-era burial goods excavated in 19th-century Germany. This piece was a visual aid on display in the temporary exhibit “Past|Present: Expanding the Stories of Glass” in the 35 Centuries of Glass Gallery. Below are digital profiles of the displayed ceramic vessels.
Remembrance:
“Almost 2,000 years ago, a household member of a prosperous villa in the Roman colony of Lower Germany died. The survivors carried their beloved to the nearby burial ground. They carefully placed the body on a funeral pyre, perhaps along with a coin as payment for the deceased to cross into the underworld. They surrounded the body with bread, fruit, and nuts and then lit the pyre.
When the fire had gone out, they swept up the cremated remains, sprinkled them with scented oil, and carefully poured them into a greenish blue glass urn. They set the glass urn inside a carved stone drum for safekeeping and sealed the lid. This would not be the final goodbye; over the years the household would return to this place to bury more household members, to make offerings of food and wine, and to remember.
Almost 160 years ago Julius von Bemberg, a German aristocrat living on the same land, stumbled upon this ancient burial ground while his workers were digging holes to plant trees. He carried the objects back to his castle and displayed them, along with other objects found on the property, for decades. The von Bembergs passed down the story of the discovery of these objects over the generations.
But facing the hardships of post World-War II Germany, the family was compelled to sell off the ancient finds from their land piecemeal. When the time came to seel the remaining objects— five glass containers, four ceramic juglets, two stone drums, and some fragments of a metal jug— they heard that a new museum in the United States, dedicated to the history and art of glass, might be interested. After a bit of discussion with the Museum’s director, the grouping of objects was shipped off to Corning, New York.
Once the objects were in Corning, visitors marveled at the size, age, and rich color of the Roman glass. Few suspected that some of the glass vessels once held cherished ancestors. The ceramic, stone, and metal containers remained in the Museum storerooms, their original purpose largely forgotten.
Today we remember the long-deceased individuals.”
-Corning Museum of Glass Exhibit Introduction
