THE HAN PERIOD GLASS DISH FROM LAO CAI, NORTHERN VIETNAM

Abstract. During the last decades, a total of sixteen glass vessels of previously unknown type, mainly small cups and a few shallow bowls came to light in Han period tombs in Guangxi, China. Made of a potash glass, these glass vessels were probably manufactured somewhere in the region of southern China or northern Southeast Asia. The shallow glass bowl found in Lao Cao, in the upper Red River valley, northern Vietnam, is clearly related to this group. The date from the first century BCE to the first century CE, suggested for the Lao Cai find context, correlates with the dates of the Guangxi tombs in which glass vessels were found.