Bulbous Bottle with Four Handles

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Bulbous Bottle with Four Handles

Artist Unidentified

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

Period Byzantine Empire (Byzantine, 395 CE-1453 CE)

Place of OriginRoman or Byzantine Empire

Date4th-5th century CE

DimensionsGlass Dimensions: 9 11/16 × 1 5/16 × 3 × 2 3/16 in. (24.6 × 3.3 × 7.6 × 5.6 cm)

Mediumglass

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1908.75

Not on View

DescriptionThis bulbous bottle with four handles (Multiple Handled Bottle VE3b) was made from transparent natural yellowish green glass (between 10 GY 4/4 and 5 G 5/2), with similarly colored translucent handles, thread, and pad base. The medium thin glass contains small and medium-sized vertically elongated bubbles, along with visible blowing spirals. The vessel is free-blown and tooled, with a pontil mark approximately 2.3 cm in diameter. The rim is rounded and thickened in the flame, showing a tool mark along part of the interior. It has a tubular neck, a strongly sloped shoulder, and a bulbous body with its widest point just below the shoulder. The base is formed from a pad of glass, tooled both internally and externally. Four angular coil handles were applied from the middle of the neck to the upper body and arcaded on two sides by two separate thick coils with U-shaped sections. At the tips, the excess glass is coiled and drawn back against the top of each handle. Eighteen revolutions of spiral thread run from shoulder to rim, trailed upward from left to right. The direction of the lower tier of the side handles and the coiled excess glass relate this bottle to other vessels in the collection, suggesting it was made in the same workshop that produced several related forms, including kohl tubes and spherical bottles. Said to be from Djebel, likely ancient Gabala on the Syrian coast, the bottle reflects the refined craftsmanship of the later Roman to early Byzantine period.