Hexagonal Bottle, Fruit Type, Series B
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for Hexagonal Bottle, Fruit Type, Series B
Hexagonal Bottle, Fruit Type, Series B
Place of OriginPhoenicia, possibly made in Sidon
DateProbably second half of first century
DimensionsH: 3 3/8 in. (8.5 cm); Rim Diam: 1 in. (2.6 cm); Diam: 1 15/16 in. (4.9 cm); Base Diam: 7/8 in. (2.3 cm)
MediumGlass; mold blown, tooled.
ClassificationGlass
Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number
1923.436
Not on View
DescriptionThis mold-blown hexagonal bottle (Fruit Type, Series B) is made of translucent dark brownish manganese-colored glass. The neck was free-blown, and the body was formed in a three-part vertical mold (MCT IV A), with seams converging at the center of the flat base. Relief is high but indistinct, and two vertical crimps at the base of the neck were made by a tool used while finishing the rim. The rim is folded outward, upward, and inward. A cylindrical neck connects a convex circular shoulder and bottom, joined by a hexagonal body. On the shoulder, a blurred floral design features alternating heart-shaped lotus buds and pomegranates or palmettes. The six rectangular panels on the body are separated by thin vertical ribs that broaden into rudimentary capitals and bases, resembling simplified columns. Each panel contains a fruit motif: pomegranates in panels 1 and 4, grape bunches in panels 2 and 5, and cedar cones in panels 3 and 6. The base is encircled by twenty-seven upturned flutes.
Published ReferencesEisen, Gustavus A., with Fahim Kouchakji, Glass: Its Origin, History, Chronology, Technic and Classification to the Sixteenth Century, vol. I, New York, 1927, p. 253, fig. 121, pl. 52.
Lightfoot, Christopher S., "A Roman Glass Flask in the Gaziantep Museum," Anatolian Studies, Journal of the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara 35, 1985, p. 125, no. 22.
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. 40, pp. 133-135, color pl. 7, p. 53.
Perhaps second quarter of first century
Probably second quarter of first century
Probably second half of first century
Probably second quarter of the first century
Probably mid-first century
Probably first quarter of first century
Probably mid-first century
Probably mid-first century
Probably mid- to second half of first century
Probably first half of first century
Probably mid-first century or earlier
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