bottle

Object NameBottle

Made FromGlass, Gold Foil

Dateabout 1-50

Techniquecast, manipulated, lathe-cut

SizeOverall H: 7.3 cm, Diam (max): 4.3 cm

Accession Number59.1.87

Curatorial Area(s)

Ancient

Exhibitions

Glass of the Caesars

Glass from the Ancient World

Interpretive Notes

Web Text

Gold-band glass is the most elaborate and unusual variety of ribbon glass. Strips of gold foil were laminated between ribbons of colorless glass. Precisely how these vessels were formed is still uncertain. Perhaps groups of ribbons were fused in sinuous patterns, after which the fused elements were laid side by side in a mold, fused again, and shaped by tooling. We do know that, after annealing, the vessels were finished by grinding away irregularities. The most common types, miniature bottles and cylindrical boxes with lids, were produced in Italy during the first century A.D.

Place Made

Roman Empire

Physical DescriptionTranslucent deep blue, emerald-green and yellow-brown glass bands with opaque white bands and colorless bands casing gold foil; cast from separate sections on core, manipulated to wavy pattern, lathe-cut. Tall biconical body; flared rim with lathe-cut groove lip, short cylindrical neck; narrow sloping shoulder with lathe-cut groove at edge; body splays outward to low carination, before curving in toward bottom, with lathe-cut groove at top and bottom of upper part; narrow base, slightly concave, with two lathe-cut grooves.
Provenance

Provenance Remark

Provenance information not currently available online. Please check back in the coming weeks.