Attention: due to customs regulations we can only ship inside the European Union. Please ensure you have a valid EU shipping address before placing a bid. Ancient Roman cast glass bowl of semi-translucent pale green colour with white and pearlescent iridescence. The bowl has a nice shape with a rounded wall and slightly concave bottom. Decorated with two tooling grooves inside the bowl and one below the rim. Diameter: ± 11 cm Condition: good and solid condition, Intact bowl, some weathering and few internal (stable) hairlines (see detailed images). Certificate of Authenticity: available upon request (pdf-format). ANCIENT GLASS Glass has always been found in nature, but the humans first created glass about 4.000 years ago. when ancient craftsmen in Mesopotamia discovered the art of mixing sand, soda and lime to make glass. For centuries, glass was a luxury item and reserved for the upper classes. Glassmaking centers around the Mediterranean world experimented with new techniques (casting, core-forming, mosaic glass) and with colours by adding metallic oxides (cobalt, copper, etc) to the mixture. The Romans learned the glass-making craft after the conquest of Egypt in the 1st century BC. During the 1st century AD the glassblowing technique revolutionized the production and made it possible to produce larger quantities. By adding manganese dioxide Roman glassmakers successfully produced colourless or ‘aqua’ glass for the first time. Roman glass became a very popular material, used for beads, glass windows, mosaic tiles, tableware pieces etc. Roman glass was traded all over the Roman Empire and far beyond to Central Africa, Scandinavia and via the Silk Route to China.