Spherical Bottle

Expand

IIIFView PDF

Spherical Bottle

Place of OriginRoman Empire

Date2nd century CE

DimensionsH: 6 3/4 in. (17.2 cm); Rim Diam: 2 in. (5.1 cm); Body Diam: 4 3/4 in. (12.1 cm)

MediumGlass; free-blown and tooled wheel cut rings.

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.1320

Not on View

DescriptionThis free-blown glass bottle, classified as Bottle II B 3 a, is made from transparent light olive-brown glass (near 5 Y 5/6). The glass is medium thin with a few small bubbles. The vessel was finished with tooled wheel-cut rings and does not show a visible pontil mark. The rim is flanged and folded in multiple directions—outward, downward, outward, upward, outward, downward—and flattened. A tall neck tapers gently and curves into a concave shoulder that meets a rounded, spherical body. The base is flat with a slight central depression. Four decorative bands of parallel wheel-cut incisions encircle the body, each band made up of three lines.

Published ReferencesHayes, John W., Roman and Pre-Roman Glass in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, 1975, p. 58-59, no. 146. (A close parallel dated "Probably mid-late 2nd century A.D.").Exhibition HistoryCedar Rapids Museum of Art, Art in Roman Life: Villa to Grave, September 2003-August 2005 (no catalog).