Ovoid Bottle with Stylized Grape Pattern

Place of OriginRoman Empire, probably Syria or inland Palestine

DateProbably 3rd century

DimensionsH: 5 3/8 in. (13.6 cm); Rim Diam: 1 3/8 in. (3.4 cm); Body Diam: 2 9/16 in. (6.5 cm); Base Diam: 1 9/16 in. (4.0 cm)

MediumGlass; mold blown and tooled.

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.1083

Not on View

DescriptionThis bottle is made of thick glass and has a translucent dark grayish-green color (near 10 GY 4/2). Numerous pinprick and small vertically elongated bubbles are visible in the neck. The neck was free blown, while the body and the collar above the shoulder were blown into a three-part mold consisting of two vertical sections joined to a disk-shaped base section (MCT VII). The vertical mold seams run halfway between the small vestigial leaves on the shoulder. The relief is indistinct. The pontil mark measures approximately 1.22 cm in diameter. The rim is folded outward, upward, and inward, forming a simple finish. The vessel has a tall cylindrical neck with a constriction at its base and a collar above the sloping shoulder. The ovoid body tapers to a slightly concave base. The body is decorated with a stylized grape pattern consisting of ten interlocking rows of twenty-one contiguous hemispherical knobs. Opposite each other at the shoulder, two small vestigial leaves appear, centered between the mold seams. The underside of the base is undecorated. This vessel belongs to the Stylized Grape Bottle, Series A.

Published ReferencesHayes, John W., Roman and Pre-Roman Glass in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, 1975, no. 91. (A close parallel dated to "probably 3rd century A.D.").

Stern, E. Marianne, Roman Mold-blown Glass: The First through Sixth Centuries, Rome, "L'Erma" di Bretschneider, 1995, p. 193, no. 124