Gold-band Bottle

Place of OriginAncient Rome, probably made in Italy

DateEarly to mid-first century CE

DimensionsH: 5.7 cm (2 1/4 in.); Rim Diam: 2.4 cm (15/16 in.); Max Diam (body): 5.5 cm (2 3/16 in.)

MediumMosaic glass technique; cast, lathe-cut grooves and rotary-polished

ClassificationGlass

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1967.9

Not on View

DescriptionThree serpentine bands of golden brown outlined in opaque white, dark blue banded with opaque white, white with purple and colorless glass encasing gold leaf. Small globular bottle. Almost horizontal rim sloping obliquely inward, with rounded edge; cylindrical neck; obtuse-angled shoulder; globular body; flat bottom. Gold-band mosaic pattern formed in the following order from serpentine lengths of canes in golden-brown outlined in opaque white, dark blue backed by opaque white and outlined in opaque white and purple, colorless encasing shattered gold leaf, and light green backed by opaque yellow surrounding a center of golden-brown outlined in opaque white. This pattern is repeated three times on the body. On the exterior, nine narrow horizontal grooves: two in a band on the upperside of the rim, two on the shoulder, two in a band around the body as its greatest diameter, two on the bottom just below the basal angle, and one, a small circular groove, at the center of the bottom. Gold-band mosaic pattern formed in the following order from serpentine lengths of canes in golden-brown outlined in opaque white, dark blue backed by opaque white and outlined in opaque white and purple, color-less encasing shattered gold leaf, and light DESCRIPTION Small globular bottle. Almost horizontal rim slop-ing obliquely inward, with rounded edge; cylindrical neck; obtuse-angled shoulder; globular body; flat bottom. On the exterior, nine narrow horizontal grooves: two in a band on the upperside of the rim, two on the shoulder, two in a band around the body at its greatest diameter, two on the bottom just below the basal angle, and one, a small circular groove, at the center of the bottom. TECHNIQUE Assembled from lengths of cane and cast; rotary-polished; cut on the exterior.

Label TextThe flourishing Roman glass industry explored in the late 1st century B.C. the possibilities of color, shape, and pattern offered by glass. This stunning little bottle is proof of the creativity of Roman glassmakers. Made with a variation of the mosaic glass technique (see the label for the Ribbed Bowl nearby), the bottle features not only the bands and canes of glass used to create the characteristic undulating patterns, but also one band of colorless glass with gold foil trapped between its layers. When the bottle was heated and shaped, the thin foil fractured and flowed with the surrounding glass.Published ReferencesGrose, David F., "Innovation and Change in Ancient Technologies: The Anomalous Case of the Roman Glass Industry," in High-technology Ceramics, Westerville, OH, 1986, p. 71, fig. 9, p. 72.

Grose, David F., Early Ancient Glass: Core-Formed, Rod-Formed, and Cast Vessels and Objects from the Late Bronze Age to the Early Roman Empire, 1600 B.C. to A. D. 50, New York, 1989, pp. 338-339, cat. no. 605, repr. (col.) p. 239.

Battie, David and Simon Cottle, eds., Sotheby's Concise Encyclopedia of Glass, London, 1991, repr. p. 29 (col.).

Page, Jutta-Annette, The Art of Glass: Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio, Toledo Museum of Art, 2006, repr. (col.) fig. 6.1, p. 29.