Double Head-shaped Flask: Two Similar Chubby Childlike Faces

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Double Head-shaped Flask: Two Similar Chubby Childlike Faces

Place of OriginAncient Rome, Eastern Mediterranean, Syria or Palestine

DateProbably early third century

DimensionsH: 3 3/8 in. (8.65 cm); Rim Diam: 1 7/16 in. (3.6 cm); Body Diam: 1 13/16 in. (4.6 cm)

MediumGlass; mold blown in a two part mold

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.515

Not on View

DescriptionTransparent dusky yellow (5 Y 6/4). Medium thin glass. A few vertically elongated bubbles in neck. Rim and upper portion of neck free blown. Lower part of neck and body blown into a two-part mold of two vertical sections, probably open at the base (MCT IX). Mold seams concealed in hair at junction of heads. No mold seam on underside of base. Relief crisp. No pontil mark. Irregularly outsplayed rim, folded outward, upward, and inward. Tubular neck tapering downward; upper part of neck crooked down to constriction marking top of mold (about two-thirds of the way down neck; H from base to top of mold 6.2 cm). Body in the shape of a double head. Oval flat base. Body in the shape of two heads back to back with similar childlike features: prominent arched browline, large wide almond-shaped eyes with recessed pupils, and protruding knobby chin. Only the noses are significantly different, with a large broad nose on face A and a narrower nose on face B. Face B is wider at the jaw, giving the face a piriform shape, while face A is more rectangular. The hair around both faces is rendered as distinct, evenly spaced knobs arranged in three regular tiers framing the face to chin level; the hair of face B recedes slightly at the corners of the forehead.

Published ReferencesHayes, John W., Roman and Pre-Roman Glass in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, 1975, fig. 94, p. 50.

Stern, E. Marianne, Roman Mold-blown Glass: The First through Sixth Centuries, Rome, "L'Erma" di Bretschneider, 1995, p. 232-233, no. 149, color pl. 26.

Arts, P.L.W., "A Collection of Ancient Glass 500 BC - 500 AD," ANTIEK Lochem, 2000, p. 112.

Puma, Richard Daniel de, Art In Roman Life: Villa to Grave, Rome, L'erma di Bretschneider, 2009, p. 118, p. 119, no. 153.

Exhibition HistoryCedar Rapids Museum of Art, Art in Roman Life: Villa to Grave, September 2003-August 2005 (no catalog).

The Dayton Art Institute, The Roman World: Religions and Everyday Life (featuring the Brooklyn Museum exhibition: Tree of Paradise: Jewish Mosaics from the Roman Empire), September 21, 2007-January 6, 2008 (no catalog).