Bottle with internal tooling

Place of OriginEastern Mediterranean

Date5th century CE

DimensionsH: 18.5 cm (7 3/16 in.); Diam (rim): 1 in. (2.6 cm); Diam (body): 3 1/8 in. (7.8 cm)

MediumPale blue-green glass; blown, trail-decorated, and tooled

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.1239

Not on View

DescriptionThe glass is thin, with vertically elongated bubbles visible in the neck. The fabric of the body cannot be determined because of weathering. The vessel is transparent natural pale green (approx. 10 G 6/7) with a similarly colored applied thread. The bottle was free-blown, with no pontil mark. A thread was added, and the internal threads were created by poking in the lower wall of the partially inflated vessel until the glass from the lower body touched the upper wall. As the inflation enlarged the vessel body, the poked-in glass lengthened to become a narrow hollow thread. The rim is rounded in flame. The tubular neck tapers downward and has a constriction at its base. The shoulder is gently sloping, and the bulbous body reaches its greatest diameter below the shoulder. The base is concave. Around the neck, there are eighteen revolutions of thread trailed downward from right to left. On the body, there are eleven horizontally pinched warts at the junction of the shoulder and body, and four internal threads extend from just above the base to just below the neck. This object is classified as Bulbous Bottle I A 1 a.

Published ReferencesLees-Causey, Catherine, "Some Roman Glass in the J. Paul Getty Museum," The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal, vol. II, 1983, p. 154.