Miniature Vessel

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Miniature Vessel

Place of OriginRoman Empire, probably Palestine

Date3rd to early 4th century CE

DimensionsH: about 1 in. (2.5 cm)

MediumGlass.

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.2217

Not on View

DescriptionTranslucent dark glass. Globular body with twisted fluted decoration. Two handles. A few pinprick bubbles. Translucent, very dark purplish-blue glass appearing black. Wound around a rod. Crimped to form vertical ribs. Round rim, bulbous body, round base around cylindrical opening. Two angular thin handles applied to upper body and attached to rim. Drawn up at angles to form minuscule horizontal projections. On body nine vertical ribs. CLASSIFICATION III B 1. REMARKS Careful execution. Technically speaking, this vessel is a collared melon bead1 because the central aperture runs all the way through. But the addition of the handles allows for it to be classified as a vessel-amulet. The discovery of a simular pierced miniature vessel in a tomb in Amman2 shows that this kind of amulet was already in use in the third century. CONDITION Between ribs brown weathering. 1 cf. Beck 1927, 12 and fig. 11For modern beads in form of vessels, cf. Kucukerman 1988, 64 and 72.