Bird-Shaped Vessel (Filler)

Place of OriginRoman Empire

Date1st-2nd century CE

DimensionsGlass Dimensions: 3 × 1 11/16 × 2 3/16 in. (7.6 × 4.3 × 5.6 cm)

Mediumglass

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number

1916.161

Not on View

DescriptionMedium thin glass. A few small bubbles. Transparent natural green tint (5 G 7/2). Medium thin glass. A few small bubbles. Free-blown and tooled; circular scar on base, ca. 2.1 cm. Tooled. Vessel shaped like a bird with a large round opening where the head would have been and a second opening at the tail. Horizontally everted rim folded outward, downward, upward, and inward. Tall cylindrical neck with curved transition to shoulder. Bulbous triangular body with a short tail pierced lengthwise through the tip and rounded in flame. Base flattened. On eastern type of birds cf. Stern 1977, 51 -- they were used as drippers or fillers e.g. for lamps. See also 1923.1087 / 1923.1088 / 1923.1086. Parallels with trefoil mouths: Platz-Horster 1976, no. 136 - 137 -- check her parallels from Eastern Mediterranean provenances. For parallel see Ch?hab 1986, pls. XLV-XLVI from Tyre with coins from 197-379 A.D.