Home/
Word Becomes Image: Openwork Vessels as a Reflection of Late Antique Transformation (UK)
Word Becomes Image: Openwork Vessels as a Reflection of Late Antique Transformation (UK)
No customer reviews yet
ISBN 9781784911294
Transformationpresents a diachronic investigation providing a rich case study as well as an approach tracing the contours of a category of Roman material culture defined by the Roman period technique of openwork carving. As the first comprehensive assemblage of openwork vessels from Classical to late Antiquity, this work offers primary evidence documenting a key example of the fundamental shift from naturalism to abstraction in which inscriptions are transformed and word becomes image. A glass blower herself, Hallie Meredith poses questions about process, tactility and reception providing a clear picture of the original contexts of production and reception demonstrated by the Roman technique of openwork carving. In an in-depth analysis of the corpus as a whole, typologies (old and new), imagery, geometric patterning and inscriptions as the major divisions among openwork decorative elements, basic design principles are identified, non openwork carving and its relation to openwork decoration are discussed, as are the function, handling, display, movement and provenance of openwork vessels throughout the Roman Empire. Art historians and archaeologists working on the transition from Classical to late Antiquity, as well as scholars focusing on these and later periods of study, can fruitfully apply this approach to visual culture. This work shows how openwork vessels are a reflection of a wide-reaching Roman cultural aesthetic.
About the author
Product details
Pub dateJul 31, 2015
ISBN-101784911291
ISBN-139781784911294
LanguageEnglish
Last updated 2026-08-06 18:21
$78.27
$90.00
13% off
You save $11.73 · list price $90.00
In stock soon — order now to reserve your copy
Delivery by Monday, September 14, 2026
Sign in to Add to Saved list
Fast checkout
Pay with Apple Pay or Google Pay when available.
Payment received
We are registering your order now. Please stay on this page while we redirect you to the confirmation page.
Free delivery on orders over $35.
15-day returns. Any reason.
Secure checkout. We never store card details.
Readers who bought this also bought
More from Glass & Glassware