1,500-Year-Old Makers’ Marks Discovered on Roman Glass Cups

Professor Hallie Meredith discovered abstract motifs on the underside of a Roman glass cup (c. 300–500 AD) and identifies them as makers' marks rather than mere decoration. Her two studies trace the same visual signs across other carved vessels, suggesting a shared workshop vocabulary among glassworkers in the 4th–6th centuries AD. Analysis of tool marks and inscriptions indicates diatreta were produced by coordinated teams, and the symbols likely denoted collective workshops—an ancient form of branding.

10:29 PM, 11/28/2025Culture

1,500-Year-Old Makers’ Marks Discovered on Roman Glass Cups

Professor Hallie Meredith of Washington State University has identified previously overlooked symbols on the underside of an ornate Roman glass cup, revealing that some late Roman glassware carried makers’ marks that functioned like workshop signatures.

Hidden signs on a delicate vessel

The cup, cut from a single block of glass and dated to roughly the 4th–6th centuries AD, is admired for its fine workmanship. On the reverse, Meredith noticed abstract openwork motifs — diamonds, leaf shapes and crosses — next to an inscription wishing the owner a long life. These motifs had long been treated as mere decoration, but Meredith argues they are more likely identifying marks of the workshops that produced the piece.

Evidence from tool marks and inscriptions

In two new studies, Meredith traces similar symbols across other carved vessels and shows that these marks recur in a shared visual vocabulary among late Roman glassworkers. Her close analysis of tool marks and epigraphic details indicates that these diatreta (singular: diatreton) were not the product of lone artisans but of coordinated teams of engravers, polishers and apprentices.

Because I'm trained as a maker, I kept wanting to flip things over. When that happens, patterns appear that everyone else has literally photographed out of the frame, Meredith says.

Each diatreton began as a thick-walled blank that was carved into two concentric layers connected by delicate glass bridges — a demanding process that produced an "impossibly light" yet durable object. The length and complexity of the work imply sustained, specialist labour over weeks, months or even years, consistent with workshop production rather than individual craft.

What the marks mean

Meredith proposes that the abstract motifs functioned like collective workshop logos: small visual tokens that identified the teams or workshops responsible for a piece. Far from being mere ornament, these marks help reconstruct the social and organizational dimensions of late Roman glassmaking and shift attention from technique alone to the people and collaborations behind the objects.

Her findings invite museums, collectors and researchers to re-examine photographed and stored objects for similar marks that may have been overlooked. If widely confirmed, these makers’ marks will shed new light on how luxury glassware was produced, circulated and valued across the late Roman world.

1,500-Year-Old Makers’ Marks Discovered on Roman Glass Cups

Hidden signs on a delicate vessel

Evidence from tool marks and inscriptions

What the marks mean

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