Bulbous Bottle

Place of OriginRoman Empire

Date4th-5th century

DimensionsGlass Dimensions: 3 × 2 × 2 3/8 in. (7.6 × 5.1 × 6 cm)

Mediumglass

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1917.142

Not on View

DescriptionThis small bottle is made of medium thin, transparent natural pale green glass (10 G 6/2), featuring small bubbles and a decorative applied thread of translucent dusky blue green glass (near 5 BG 3/2) with red streaks. The vessel is free-blown and tooled with an applied decorative thread and a pontil mark measuring approximately 0.9 cm. The bottle has a rounded rim formed in the flame and a funnel-shaped mouth that transitions smoothly into a concave neck. The sloping shoulder gives way to a bulbous body with its widest point at the center. The base is concave. Decorative elements include six revolutions of applied thread winding left to right down the neck, the lower two of which intersect. Around the midsection of the body, a zigzag pattern with eleven points in each direction ascends to the base of the neck, where it transitions into four revolutions of straight thread.