Brown and Yellow Snake in the Getty Villa, June 2016

Title: Snake

Artist/Maker: Unknown

Culture: Roman

Date: A.D. 1–100

Medium: Glass

Object Number: 2003.257

Dimensions: 36 × 2 cm (14 3/16 × 13/16 in.)

The surface of this undulating brown and yellow snake suggests its scaly form. A bulbous head and hooded eye also attests to the glassmaker's attention to detail. Placed on a flat surface, this creature served a decorative function.

Animals in antiquity stood as embodiments of virtues and values and also as guardians and companions. Many animal species were represented in sculpture and appear in frescos and mosaics. Snakes in iron, bronze, or even as gold bracelets, were common in the classical world. Because of the medium's fragility, very few glass snakes have survived. To make the snake, a glassmaker combined colored threads of glass into a colorless or lightly colored body. The completed body could then be shaped into a serpentine form.


Text from: www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/221640/unknown-maker-snake-roman-ad-1-100