Bulbous Bottle with Two Trailed Handles

Place of OriginRoman Levant

Date4th-5th century

Dimensions7 1/4 × 1 3/4 × 3 in. (18.4 × 4.4 × 7.6 cm)

Mediumglass

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number

1916.72

Not on View

DescriptionThis bulbous bottle (Piriform Bottle I A 1 b with handle type I C 2 a) is free-blown with medium-thick glass and features a flaring rim, tubular neck with a constriction at the base, and a piriform (pear-shaped) body. The rim and lower neck are decorated with applied, marvered threads wound from right to left. Two curved coil handles extend from the neck to the shoulder, then continue downward as decorative trails with crimped ornamentation—11 crimps on one side and 12 on the other. The handle tips are pinched into diagonal projections and clipped. The base is pushed in with a hollow tubular ring and has a pontil mark approximately 1.3 cm in diameter. The vessel is made of transparent light olive glass (near 10 Y 5/4), with translucent to opaque dusky blue-green (near 5 BG 3/2) decoration including coils, handles, and trails. Medium-sized bubbles, elongated vertically in the neck and diagonally in the body, are visible in the fabric..