Although erotic scenes are depicted on Roman cameo glass vessels in the Metropolitan Museum, New York and The Corning Museum of Glass, no actual ancient examples of this mould-blown beaker have yet been discovered!
Responding to popular demand, we have produced a beaker which we feel is faithful to the spirit of the many sexually explicit artworks of the Roman period, and the (frequently athletic) poses reproduced here are well known from Roman mosaics, fresco paintings, sculpture, pottery, lamps and especially spintiari (brothel tokens).
The beaker's shape is (appropriately), the same as that of the 'athlete' beaker (049A), and the names of the participants were enthusiastically supplied by François van den Dries. Classical scholars should enjoy deciphering their exact derivations!
CALIDVS
IRRVMABA
MENTVLA
SALACIA
LESBIA
CVNNVLA
MANVELA
SEXTVS
RAPAX
PIERAMAXIMA
INCITATVS
PHILLIPA
For an exhaustive illustrated study of Roman and Greek erotica, see:
Johns, C. (1982) "Sex or Symbol? Erotic Images of Greece and Rome" London: British Museum Publications
Pictures from this book were the inspiration for our beaker.