Hexagonal Bottle, Vessels Type, Series A
Hexagonal Bottle, Vessels Type, Series A
Place of OriginPhoenicia
DateProbably first half of first century
DimensionsH: 3 3/8 in. (8.5 cm); Rim Diam: 1 in. (2.5 cm); Diam: 1 9/16 in. (4 cm) Base Diam: 7/8 in. (2.2 cm)
MediumGlass; neck free blown. Body blown into a four-part mold of three vertical sections joined to a disk-shaped base section (MCT II).
ClassificationGlass
Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number
1923.480
Not on View
DescriptionThis hexagonal bottle, classified as Vessels Type, Series A3, Generation A3a, is made of translucent dark purplish blue glass with pale blue and colorless patches, the result of an imperfectly melted batch. The glass is medium thin, with clusters of small spherical and large oval bubbles in the body and small to very large linear bubbles in the neck. The neck was formed freehand, while the body was shaped in a four-part mold consisting of three vertical sections joined to a disk-shaped base section (MCT II). Mold seams appear between panels 2 and 3, 4 and 5, and 6 and 1. Relief is crisp, though difficult to discern due to the glass's transparency.
The vessel features a flaring rim folded outward, upward, and inward; a cylindrical neck; sloping shoulder; and a bulbous body with its widest point between the midpoint and the base. The low, offset base has a flat underside with two raised concentric circles. Decorative motifs correspond with those on 1923.531, a related example from the same subseries and generation. Unlike most others in this group, this bottle lacks the vertical crimps at the neck's base that typically result from tooling during finishing.
Published ReferencesStern, E. Marianne, Roman Mold-Blown Glass: The First Through Sixth Centuries, Rome, Italy, "L'Erma" di Bretschneider in association with the Toledo Museum of Art, 1995, cat. no. 27, p. 124.
Arts, P.L.W., "A Collection of Ancient Glass 500 BC - 500 AD," ANTIEK Lochem, 2000, p. 103.
Probably first half of first century
First half of the first century
Second half of the first century CE
Second half of the 1st century CE
Probably mid- to second half of first century
Probably second quarter of the first century
Late sixth through fifth centuries BCE
Late first century BCE to early first century CE
Probably first half of first century
Perhaps second quarter of first century
Late 2nd to early 3rd century CE
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