Double kohl tube with tiered handle

Place of OriginAncient Rome, Syro-Palestinian coast

Date5th-6th century CE

DimensionsH: 13 1/8 in. (33.7 cm); Rim Diam: 2 1/8 in. (5.3 cm); W (handle): 4 15/16 in. (12.6 cm)

MediumLight blue-green glass; blown, trail decorated, and tooled

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.1294

Not on View

DescriptionMedium thin glass. Vertically elongated bubbles in body. Black specks in handles. Natural light bluish-green body and decoration; double cylindrical body; four tiers of arched handles in flat pattern, attached to two small handles, one on each side; body with spiral thread wound around each of two vertical sections. Transparent natural pale green (10 G 6/2). Translucent similarly colored handles and thread. Free blown. Pontil mark ca. 2.1 cm in diameter. Added thread. Body pinched once lengthwise. Added handles; excess glass at tips of handles drawn back against handle. Tool marks on basket handle. Hollow rim folded inward and downward. Flattened body with two tubular compartments, curving inward at base. Round base. Two angular coil handles applied to upper body and attached to rim. A two- dimensional quadruple-tiered basket handle made from six separate coils with U-shaped sections: the first tier consists of a central M-shaped coil applied to the top of the left side handle, curved up over the mouth of the left tube, touched down to the division between the compartments, curved up over the right tube, and attached to the top and side of the right side handle, plus two side coils applied to the tops of the side handles, drawn upward, and attached to the top of the arches of the central M-shaped coil; the second tier consists of a single coil applied to the outside corner of the left coil of the first tier, touched down to the attachment point of this coil at the top of the left curve of the central coil, curved up over the middle of the central coil, touched down to the attachment point of right coil of the first tier, and applied to the outside corner of this coil; the third tier consists of one M-shaped coil applied to the left outside edge of the second tier, touched down to the middle arch of this coil, and attached to the right outside edge; the fourth tier consists of one coil applied to the right outside edge of the third tier and attached to the left side. On body, between base and rim, ca. 10 revolutions of thick thread melted into surface. Point and direction of application cannot be determined. Thread decoration applied before body was pinched. CLASSIFICATION Double Tube VIIC2a

Published ReferencesPage, Jutta-Annette, The Art of Glass: Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio, Toledo Museum of Art, 2006, p. 47-48, repr. (col.) fig. 17.2, p. 48.