Bulbous Jar with Two Handles (Amphora)

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Bulbous Jar with Two Handles (Amphora)

Place of OriginRoman Empire

Date3rd-5th century CE ?

DimensionsH: 9 7/8 in. (25.2 cm); Rim Diam: 3 9/16 in. (9 cm); Body Diam: 6 1/8 in. (15.6 cm)

MediumGlass; free blown and tooled

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.1194

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 02, Classic

DescriptionThis vessel is made of medium thin glass that is transparent natural pale blue green (5 BG 7/2), with translucent similarly colored handles that appear grayish blue green (5 BG 5/2). It contains small and medium-sized vertically elongated bubbles and visible blowing spirals. The piece is free-blown and tooled with no pontil mark visible; a coil was added, and excess glass at the tips of the handles was drawn out thin and snapped off. The rim is rounded in flame, with a funnel neck, sloping shoulder, and a bulbous body with its greatest diameter just above the concave base. Two angular ribbon handles are applied to the shoulder and attached halfway up the neck, where they fold downward, inward, and upward over a neck coil (applied left to right about 3.5 cm below the rim) to form closed loops. This form is classified as Jar I C 3 a with handle II B 2 a, highlighting its characteristic bulbous body and distinctive ribbon handles.

Label TextCore-formed and cast glass vessels had been made at least as early as the 15th century BCE in Egypt and Mesopotamia, but glassblowing did not appear in the Roman Empire until the first century BCE. This skill was brought to the capital city of Rome from the eastern Mediterranean (modern Syria), after the area was annexed by Rome in 64 BCE. Blown glass immediately became fashionable and the material of choice in every facet of daily life, from a lady’s dressing table to the dinner table. The three examples displayed here show the variety and sophistication of free-blown glass. Some of the best preserved glass was found in ancient tombs. The pointed amphora (bottle) may have contained perfume, the two-handled jar probably held oil, and the large bottle perhaps held wine—all ready to accompany the dead into the next life.Published ReferencesPuma, Richard Daniel de, Art In Roman Life: Villa to Grave, Rome, L'erma di Bretschneider, 2009, p. 96, no. 111.Exhibition HistoryCedar Rapids Museum of Art (IA), Art in Roman Life: Villa to Grave, September 2003-August 2005 (no catalog).