Inna N. Kuzina

Institute of Archaeology RAS, Moscow (kuzina.i@gmail.com)

Key words: glass goblets, excavation works in Vladimir, dating, Ancient Rus.

The article considers the finds of glass goblets painted with enamel and gold found during the salvage excavations in Vladimir in 2007 on the land of very rich ancient Russian manor. Probably they made up a set of at least three objects. Goblets were made in the Middle East workshops, possibly, in Syria. In the décor consisted of three ornamental zones octactinal and quatrefoiled rosaces, birds’ figures and a man sitting crosslegged, relief balls of white and blue glass and floral ornament are used. The saved fragments of one of the goblets contain a short piece of inscription. The inscription might have decorated another goblet. The typical feature of the décor were the elements made of gold with thin red inking. According to the archaeological data the goblets from Vladimir are dated to the time on the eve of Mongol-Tatar invasion. This data are extremely important in connection with the polemic about the place and the time of emerging of an artistic tradition in Islamic art which emerged intensively from the second half of the 13th c.