Cylindrical Box (Pyxis)

Place of OriginCampania or Syrio-Palestine

DateSecond half of the first century CE

DimensionsH: 2 1/16 in. (5.3 cm); Rim Diam: 2 1/8 in. (5.4 cm); Diam: 2 5/16 in. (5.8 cm); Base Diam: 2 5/16 in. (5.8 cm)

MediumBlown 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).

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.442

Not on View

DescriptionTransparent patchy dark blue. Very thin glass. Fabric cannot be determined because of weathering. Mold seams from rim to ridge partly concealed in the inverted palmettes. Relief moderately crisp. 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 boss. On the body, between two ridges forming top and bottom borders, a continuous frieze of eight elegant seven-leaf palmettes, alternately upright and inverted. The upright palmettes have thick outturned leaves; the inverted palmettes have thin leaves curling up and inward. Elaborate detailing of the palmette hearts. Transparent patchy dark blue. 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 D). Mold seams from rim to ridge partly concealed in the inverted palmettes. Relief moderately crisp. 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 boss. On the body, between two ridges forming top and bottom borders, a continuous frieze of eight elegant seven-leaf palmettes, alternately upright and inverted. The upright palmettes have thick outturned leaves; the inverted palmettes have thin leaves curling outward. Elaborate detailing of the palmette hearts.

Published ReferencesPerhaps Richter, G. M. A., "The Curtis Collection of Ancient Glass," Art in America 2, 1914, 85, fig. 15 (it is not clear which of the two pyxides in the Curtis Collection was illustrated by Richter, Cat. No. 80 or Cat. No. 81).

Donald B. Harden, "Romano-Syrian Glasses with Mould-blown Inscriptions," Journal of Roman Studies 23, 1935, 185, app. B, III, no. e.

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. 80, p. 171, color plate 15, p. 55.