Piriform Bottle with Two Trailed Handles

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Piriform Bottle with Two Trailed Handles

Place of OriginRoman Empire

Date4th-5th century CE

DimensionsH: 7 9/16 in. (19.2 cm); Rim Diam: 2 in. (5.1 cm); Body Diam: 3 1/4 in. (8.2 cm)

MediumGlass; free blown and tooled

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.1193

Not on View

DescriptionThis vessel is made of medium thick glass that is transparent to translucent streaky light brown olive (near 5 Y 5/6), with translucent light olive trails, coils, and handles. The fabric cannot be determined because of weathering, and blowing spirals are visible. It is free-blown with a pontil mark approximately 1.4 cm in diameter. Excess glass at the tips of the handles was drawn up along the neck and clipped off. The everted rim is rounded in flame, with a rim coil and neck coil at shoulder level both applied from left to right. The concave tubular neck merges directly into a piriform body with a concave base. Two curved coil handles with trailing tails were applied to the lower part of the body, trailed up with ten irregularly spaced crimps on one side and five on the other, then bent out to form decorative loop handles that attach to the neck coil, with an additional crimp above one handle. This vessel is classified as a Piriform Bottle II A 1 a, highlighting its free-blown form and elaborate trailed handle decoration.