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bottle
bottle

bottle

Object NameBottle
Made FromGlass, Gold Foil
Dateabout 1-50
Place MadeRoman Empire
Techniquecast, manipulated, lathe-cut
SizeOverall H: 7.3 cm, Diam (max): 4.3 cm
Accession Number59.1.87
Curatorial Area(s)
Exhibitions
Glass from the Ancient World
Glass of the Caesars
On ViewAncient Gallery
Interpretive Notes
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.
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
Source Ray Winfield Smith (American, 1897-1982) - 1959-07-27
fragment
50 BCE-25 CE
fragment
50 BCE-25 CE
ewer
99-1 BCE
fragment
50 BCE-25 CE
box
about 1-50
fragment
50 BCE-25 CE