Piriform Bottle with Two Handles

Artist Unidentified

Period Roman Empire (Ancient Roman, 27 BCE-395 CE)

Place of OriginProbably Syria, possibly from Hauran [Roman Empire]

Date3rd-4th century CE

Dimensions6 5/8 × 2 5/16 × 1 1/4 × 1 1/2 in. (16.9 × 5.9 × 3.2 × 3.8 cm)

Mediumglass

ClassificationGlass

Object number

1908.63

Not on View

DescriptionThis piriform bottle (Bulbous Bottle I A 3 b) is made of thin, transparent natural pale blue-green glass (5 BG 7/2), with translucent similarly colored handles and decorative trails. The vessel contains numerous medium-sized vertically elongated bubbles. It was free-blown and tooled, with a pontil mark about 1.35 cm wide. The rim is hollow and folded in four directions—outward, upward, inward, and downward. The neck is tubular with a slight bulge above the constriction at its base, and the body is pear-shaped (piriform) with a pushed-in base. Two angular coil handles with long decorative tails extend from the lower part of the body, where they were first applied and trailed upward to the base of the neck. The trails feature 10 irregular crimps on one side and 12 on the other before turning outward into angular handles and attaching to the neck. Excess glass at the tips was drawn out and either trailed off across the handle or folded downward along its length.

Published ReferencesThe Toledo Museum of Art: Museum News 1908.