Main Menu

Bulbous Bottle with Two Handles

Skip to main content
Collections Menu
Image Not Available for Bulbous Bottle with Two Handles
Bulbous Bottle with Two Handles
Image Not Available for Bulbous Bottle with Two Handles

Bulbous Bottle with Two Handles

Place of OriginRoman Empire, Syria or Palestine
Date1st century CE
DimensionsH: 2 29/32 in. (7.4 cm); Rim Diam: 1 in. (2.6 cm); Max Diam: 1 5/8 in. (4.2 cm); Base Diam: 3/4 in. (1.9 cm)
MediumGlass; mold blown and tooled
ClassificationGlass
Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number
1923.680
Not on View
DescriptionBulbous bottle with two handles of transparent pale olive glass (near 10 Y 6/2) with similarly colored translucent handles. Medium thin glass with a few pinprick and small spherical bubbles. The neck is free-blown, while the ovoid body was blown into a two-part vertical mold (MCT VIII), leaving one continuous mold seam extending across the underside of the base; the mold edges were not carefully aligned, resulting in a base in two planes. The rim is folded outward, upward, and inward for most of its circumference. The cylindrical neck transitions to an ovoid body with a base intended to be flat. Two coil handles were applied to the shoulder and attached halfway up the neck, positioned about one-third of the distance between seams; the tips of the handles were drawn out thin and folded back to the base of each handle. Decorative friezes feature twenty-four downturned contiguous flutes on the upper body and twenty-nine upturned flutes on the lower body, joined by a central band of tendril scrolls bordered above and below by a raised ridge.
Published ReferencesStern, E. Marianne, Roman Mold-blown Glass: The First through Sixth Centuries, Rome, "L'Erma" di Bretschneider, 1995, p. 153, no. 56.

Arts, P.L.W., "A Collection of Ancient Glass 500 BC - 500 AD," ANTIEK Lochem, 2000, p. 103.

Membership

Become a TMA member today

Support TMA

Help support the TMA mission