The double-walled bowl shaped like a segment of a ball. The bowl is composed of two translucent vessels fitting one inside the other, a brownish glass rod with a white spiral thread applied to the rims. This embellishment is fully consistent with comparable borders found on Hellenistic and early Roman mosaic bowls. There is a pigment coating between the two walls, presumably applied to the outer surface of the inner bowl in similar fashion to Hellenistic gold glasses. The patterns were created by etching parts of the pigment layer.An undulating tendril with leaves in the wave troughs and crests running around the bowl. The bowl obviously shattered into large fragments at some point, reassembled without losses to the material. Moisture has penetrated between the two walls along the break lines and cracks, making these areas appear darker in places. However, the floral pattern can be clearly distinguished all over when held against the light.An exceptionally rare, intricately made deluxe glass from the late-Hellenistic to the early-Roman epoch. Diameter 10.4 cm, height 3.8 cm. Provenance: From the collection of a South German classical philologist, acquired by him during the 1950s and 1960s. Remaining thereafter in the family estate.Condition: II -