Quadruple Tube with Zigzag and Basket Handle

Image Not Available

Expand

IIIFView PDF

Quadruple Tube with Zigzag and Basket Handle

Place of OriginRoman Empire, Palestine

Date6th to early 7th century

DimensionsH: 5 3/8 in. (13.7 cm); Rim Diam: 1 3/8 in. (3.5 cm); Body Diam: 1 9/16 in. (4.0 cm)

MediumGlass; free-blown and tooled.

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.1316

Not on View

DescriptionThis free-blown and tooled glass vessel, classified as a Quadruple Tube VIIIB4a, consists of a rectangular body formed by four tubular compartments bundled together. The body narrows toward the waist and broadens toward a flattened base. The rim is folded inward and downward. The glass is transparent natural pale green (10 G 6/2) with translucent dusky blue-green handles, zigzag coil, and thread decoration (between 5 BG 3/2 and 5 BG 4/6). The vessel is made of thin glass with visible blowing spirals. The pontil mark, about 1.6 cm in diameter, is present. The fabric cannot be determined because of weathering. The body is pinched twice lengthwise. A freestanding zigzag coil is applied to the upper body from left to right, with nineteen segments extending from the rim to the upper body. This zigzag continues downward as a wound thread overlapping its lower portion with thirteen revolutions from the upper body to above the base. The thread decoration was applied after the body was pinched. A three-dimensional, triple-tiered basket handle is made from at least six coils with circular sections. The first tier consists of two coils set at right angles to each other (one crossing above the other), applied to the rim at the divisions between compartments and attached to the rim on the opposite side. The second tier consists of one coil applied to a top corner of the upper coil of the first tier and attached to the opposite corner of the same coil, along with a cross-element of two coils, each applied to a corner of the lower coil of the first tier and attached to the center of the lower coil of the second tier. The third tier, which would have been applied to the top of the second tier, is missing. Excess glass at the tips of the handles was clipped off.

Published References

Puma, R. D. de, Art in Roman Life: Villa to Grave, Roma, "L'Erma" di Bretschneider, 2009, no. 187, p. 133.