Cylindrical Box with Three Handles (Pyxis)

Place of OriginAncient Rome, Probably Syro-Palestinian, near Hebron

DateProbably second half of the first century

DimensionsH: 2 1/8 in. (7.4 cm);
Rim Diam: 2 1/4 in. (5.71 cm);
Max Diam: 2 3/8 in. (6.0 cm);
Thickness of Rim: 1/16 in. (0.16 cm);
Base Diam: 2 1/4 in. (5.7 cm)

MediumMedium thick glass. Mold blown.

ClassificationGlass

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1956.3

Not on View

DescriptionTransparent decolorized glass. Pale green and streaked manganese colored areas. Similarly colored handles. Pinprick and small spherical bubbles. Blown into a three-part mold of two vertical sections joined to a disk-shaped base section which included the horizontal ridge forming the lower edge of the wall (MCT VII). Mold seams from rim to ridge partly concealed in the inverted palmettes. Relief moderately crisp but difficult to distinguish because of transparency. Rim unworked. Cylindrical body with inset and mold-blown ridge below to support lid. On the flat underside of the base, four raised concentric circles around a small central depression. Three coil handles attached to middle of body and applied to lower edge of ridge for lid. Handles positioned adjacent to mold seams on half of body and between seams on other half. On the body, between two ridges forming top and bottom borders, a continuous frieze of eight stiff seven-leaf palmettes, alternately upright and inverted. Little variation in thickness of leaves. Schematic rendering of the palmette hearts.

Published ReferencesRiefstahl, Rudolf M., "The Tradition of Glass: Ancient and Near Eastern Glass," The Toledo Museum of Art Museum News 4 (1961), p. 37, ill.

Labino, Dominick, Visual Art in Glass, Dubuque, IA, 1968, p. 21, fig. 8.

Stern, E. Marianne, Roman Mold-blown Glass: the First through Sixth Centuries, "L'Erma" di Bretschneider in Association with the Toledo Museum of Art, Rome, Italy, 1995, cat. no. 82, p. 171-172, pl. 82, p. 55, colorpl. 15.