Jar (Amphoriscus) with 'Splashed' Decoration

Place of OriginAncient Rome

Date1st century CE

DimensionsH: 4 15/16 in. (12.5 cm); Diam: 1 1/4 in. (3.2 cm); Diam (body): 2 5/8 in. (6.7 cm)

MediumFree blown; tooled; applied and marvered decoration; applied handles

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.1495

Not on View

DescriptionThis small free-blown amphoriscus, classified as a variation of Isings 1957, Form 15, is made of thin, transparent pale manganese-colored glass (near 5 YR 6/1) with a barrel-shaped body. The amphoriscus has a flaring rim that is folded outward, upward, and inward, a tall cylindrical neck with a curved transition to the shoulder, and a slightly depressed flat base. Two applied handles extend from the top of the neck to the shoulder; they differ in hue—one handle is similar in color to the body, and the other is translucent grayish blue (5 PB 5/2). Opaque white, opaque pale blue (near 5 B 6/2), and opaque dark blue glass chips were picked up and blown into the vessel to create the distinctive ‘splashed’ or ‘splatter’ decoration, forming medium-sized flecks that stretch into near-linear forms on the neck and shoulder. The colored decoration was fully melted into the surface. The tips of the handles were drawn out thin and folded back.

Published ReferencesAuth, Susan H., Ancient Glass at the Newark Museum, Newark, NJ, 1976, p. 60 as a parallel to her no. 55 (pale yellow-green with opaque white, yellow, and pale blue flecks).

Grose, David F., "Ancient Glass," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 20, no. 3, 1978, p. 78, fig. 14.

Grose, David, "The Formation of the Roman Glass Industry," Archaeology, vol. 36, no. 4, July/Aug., 1983, illustrated p. 38.

Grose, David F., "Innovation and Change in Ancient Technologies: The Anomalous Case of the Roman Glass Industry," in High-technology Ceramics, Westerville, OH, 1986, p. 77, fig. 16.