Hexagonal Bottle, Fruit Type, Series A

Expand

IIIFView PDF

Hexagonal Bottle, Fruit Type, Series A

Place of OriginPhoenicia, possibly made in Sidon

DateProbably second half of 1st century

DimensionsH: 3 1/8 in. (8 cm); Rim Diam: 7/8 in. (2.3 cm); Diam: 1 3/4 in. (4.45 cm); Base Diam: 7/8 in. (2.3 cm)

MediumGlass; mold blown, tooled.

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.435

Not on View

DescriptionThis mold-blown hexagonal bottle (Fruit Type, Series A1, Generation A1a-yy) is made of possibly transparent pale blue glass, though the color is difficult to determine due to weathering. The neck was free-blown, and the body was shaped in a three-part vertical mold (MCT IV A), with seams meeting at the center of the flat base. Relief is moderately crisp. The rim is folded outward, upward, and inward. A cylindrical neck connects a convex circular shoulder and bottom, which are joined by a hexagonal body. Decorative elements match those of Cat. No. 36 (TMA 1923.433), featuring six panels with fruit motifs—pomegranate, cedar cone, and grape bunch—set between vertical ribs and framed by a simplified egg-and-dart band.

Published ReferencesLightfoot, Christopher S., "A Roman Glass Flask in the Gaziantep Museum," Anatolian Studies, Journal of the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara 35, 1985, pp. 124-125, no. 16.

Stern, 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. 39, p. 133.