VII.—The Rothschild Lycurgus Cup

Abstract

Lord Rothschild's family has possessed, since the middle of the nineteenth century, one of the most interesting and important extant Roman cut glasses–the famous glass cup with metal mounts, the glass portion of which bears in open-work relief-cutting an elaborate rendering of the scene of the death of Lycurgus, mythical king of the Edoni, at the hands of the Dionysiac rout (pis. LIXLXIV; figs. 1-2). It is not known exactly when the vase was acquired by the Rothschilds, but when it was first mentioned in print in 1845 it was in M. Dubois's hands in Paris and it is thought to have been purchased by the present owner's great-grandfather shortly afterwards (although Michaelis, writing in 1872, did not know its whereabouts). In 1862 it was lent to the South Kensington (now the Victoria and Albert) Museum for a special exhibition. When Kisa was writing his great book on ancient glass in the early years of the present century it was in its Rothschild home and, as Kisa says, was unfortunately not available to him for study. Few, if any, archaeologists can have seen it from that time onwards until the present Lord Rothschild brought it to light again in 1950 and consulted us about its history and affinities. By his kind suggestion we are now enabled to write the present account of the vase, its technique and its artistic import, based on much careful personal study of the piece, and on the excellent series of photographs (pls. LIX-LXIV) which were made for Lord Rothschild by Mr. Edward Leigh of Cambridge. It is indeed surprising that such a fine monument of antiquity has had to wait for more than a century since it was first mentioned in print before it has been possible to give it the full and detailed publication warranted by its importance both as a tour de force of ancient glass-working and as an example of artistic endeavour.