Bottle with Honeycomb Pattern

Place of OriginIran, Golestan, found at Abadan Tappeh

DateMedieval Islamic period, about 12th-13th century

DimensionsH: 8 7/8 in. (22.5 cm); Diam: 4 1/8 in. (10.5 cm)

MediumBrown glass; blown in a single-part mold (post technique), tooled on the pontil.

ClassificationGlass

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

Object number

1971.162

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 28A

DescriptionA globular bottle of deep amber glass featuring a spherical body and a tall, tapering neck. The body is decorated with a continuous honeycomb or hexagonal network pattern, achieved by blowing the glass parison into a dip-mold and subsequently expanding it to soften the ridges. The neck is smooth and tubular, terminating in a flared mouth with a folded rim. Three distinct applied glass threads ring the base of the neck, providing a transition between the shoulder and the vertical shaft. The base features a high kick (punt mark), indicating the use of a pontil rod during finishing.

Label TextThis amber bottle glows with a "honeycomb" pattern—a design that mimics the expensive cut-glass facets of earlier eras but was created here using a clever, time-saving technique. The glassmaker blew a bubble of hot glass into a patterned mold and then inflated it further, expanding the mesh into soft, rhythmic hexagons. Found in the Gorgan region of northeastern Iran, a major hub of the Silk Road, vessels like this were likely used as qumqums (sprinklers) to dispense rosewater or perfume during social gatherings. The long, tapered neck allowed for a controlled pour, while the applied threads at the shoulder added grip and visual grace. This bottle is attributed by the dealer to the site of Abadan Tappeh, a location that has yielded distinctively high-quality glassware from the Seljuk era. As a qumqum (sprinkler), it likely held rosewater.Published ReferencesPage, Jutta-Annette, The Art of Glass: Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio, Toledo Museum of Art, 2006, p. 64, repr. (col.) fig. 24B, p. 65.Comparative ReferencesCf. Wilkinson, Tony J., Rekavandi, Hamid Omrani, Hopper, Kristen, Priestman, Seth, Roustaei, Kourosh, and Galiatsatos, Nikolaos, The Landscapes of the Gorgān Wall, in Sauer, Eberhard W., Rekavandi, Hamid Omrani, Wilkinson, Tony J., et al., Persia’s Imperial Power in Late Antiquity: The Great Wall of Gorgan and Frontier Landscapes of Sasanian Iran, Oxford, Oxbow Books, 2013, p. 117, nos. GWS-20 and GWS-21.