Bulbous Bottle with Three Handles

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Bulbous Bottle with Three Handles

Place of OriginRoman Empire

Date4th-5th century CE

DimensionsH: 4 11/16 in. (11.9 cm); Rim Diam: 1 3/4 in. (4.4 cm); Body Diam: 3 1/8 in. (8 cm)

MediumGlass; blown in a mold, removed, twisted, free blown, and tooled

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.1192

Not on View

DescriptionThis vessel is made of medium thick glass that is transparent natural grayish green (near 10 GY 5/2) with translucent streaky coils and handles appearing olive gray (near 5 Y 3/2). The glass contains medium and large bubbles, about 2.0 to 4.0 cm long, elongated diagonally in the neck and body, with visible blowing spirals. The body was blown into a one-part patterned mold and expanded, then removed, twisted, free-blown, and tooled. It has a flaring rim rounded in flame, with a thick rim coil wound from left to right, and a neck coil around the center of the neck, also wound left to right. The tubular neck has a constriction at its base and meets a gently sloping shoulder that transitions into a bulbous body with its greatest diameter at the center. The concave base features a pontil mark approximately 1.3 cm in diameter. Three curved coil handles are applied to the shoulder and attached halfway up the neck, folded upward over the neck coil, then outward, upward, inward, and pinched to form horizontal projections. The upper two-thirds of the body display about forty expanded mold-blown corrugations curving from top left to bottom right. This vessel is classified as a Bulbous Bottle I A 2 a with handles I A 2 b.