Double Head-shaped Bottle: Two Similar Medusas

DatePerhaps late first or second century

DimensionsH: 4 1/8 in. (10.5 cm); Rim Diam: 1 1/8 in. (2.8 cm); Diam: 2 1/8 in. (5.4 cm); Base Diam: 1 7/16 in. (3.7 cm)

MediumGlass; mold blown and tooled.

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.458

Not on View

DescriptionTranslucent manganese colored moderate red (near 5 R 5/4). Medium thin glass. Fabric cannot be determined because of weathering. Rim and neck free blown. Body blown into a three-part mold of two vertical sections and a separate disk-shaped base section (MCT VII). Mold seams concealed in hair at junction of heads. Relief moderately crisp. No pontil mark. Horizontal rim, folded outward, upward, and inward. Tubular neck, with constriction below middle; neck widens significantly below constriction. Body in the shape of a double head. Circular slightly concave base, with decoration on the underside. Body in the shape of two heads of Medusa back to back with similar features: arching browline, large almond-shaped eyes with recessed pupils, narrow nose, straight lips slightly parted, and a narrow prominent chin. Face A is narrower than face B. On side B, wings can be distinguished in the hair above the forehead. Beneath the chins of both faces is a thick roll with loops to left and right which represents the knotted snakes of Medusa. The snaky hair is represented by curving locks to chin level, with a central part over the forehead. On underside of base, two diamonds with concave sides in raised outline surrounding a sunken umbilicus.

Published ReferencesStern, E. Marianne, Roman Mold-blown Glass: The First through Sixth Centuries, Rome, "L'Erma" di Bretschneider, 1995, p. 223-224, no.142, color pl. 23.