bottle
Object NameBottle with Two Handles
Made FromGlass
Date200-399
Place MadeRoman Empire
TechniqueMold-blown, tooled, applied, wheel-cut, abraded
SizeOverall H: 34.9 cm; Lower Wall Diam: 12.4 cm
Accession Number59.1.128
Curatorial Area(s)
Exhibitions
Glass from the Ancient World
On ViewAncient Gallery
Physical DescriptionPale, slightly yellowish green transparent glass; body blown in cylindrical one-piece mold; handles applied; decoration wheel-cut and abraded. Bottle: cylindrical, with two handles. Funnel mouth, with plain, rounded lip and thick horizontal trail just below it; neck cylindrical, splaying at bottom, with more or less horizontal tool marks on inside, near top; shallow sloping shoulder, with bulging edge which overhangs upper wall; wall vertical, bulging slightly below mid-point and curving in at bottom; base plain, slightly concave; no pontil mark. Two opposed ribbonlike handles, each dropped on to edge of shoulder, drawn vertically up to level of mid-point of mouth, then bent sharply in and down, and attached to bottom of mouth, with excess glass folded up and pressed against lower part of mouth; lower end secured by pressing down with tool, which made sharp distinction between horizontal edge of attachment and vertical arm of handle. Wall decorated from top to bottom with five continuous horizontal bands of cut and abraded ornament, each separated from band above and below by two roughly parallel lines, which do not occur above band at top or below band at bottom (from top): (1) band (W. about 4 cm) of transverse lines sloping down from right to left, hastily executed by abrasion, with some lines run together and appearing as loop- or hook-like motifs; (2) band (W. about 3 cm) of 33 vertical, pointed-oval cut facets; band (W. about 5.5 cm) comprising two horizontal rows of fourteen vertical, pointed-oval cut facets arranged so that facets in lower row are below spaces between facets in upper row; each facet is contained within pentagonal compartment with double outlines made by cutting, except at top of upper row and bottom of lower row, where outlines consists of single short abraded lines; compartments in upper and lower rows are contiguous, making allover pattern resembling chicken wire; (3) as (2); (4) as (1). Glass contains numerous bubbles, mostly elongated (L. up to 0.6 cm).Provenance
Source
Ray Winfield Smith
(American, 1897-1982) - 1959-07-27
