Hexagonal Bottle, Masks Type, Series A

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Hexagonal Bottle, Masks Type, Series A

Place of OriginPhoenicia

DateProbably second quarter of the 1st century

DimensionsH: 3 13/16 in. (9.63 cm); Rim Diam: 7/8 in. (2.2 cm); Diam: 1 9/16 in. (3.9 cm); Base Diam: 1 in. (2.5 cm)

MediumGlass; mold blown in a three-part mold, tooled.

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.432

Not on View

DescriptionThis bottle, classified as Masks Type, Series A, Generation A1a, is made from thick opaque pale blue glass (5 B 6/2). The neck was free-blown, while the hexagonal body was mold-blown in a three-part vertical mold (MCT IV A). Mold seams are visible between panels 2–3, 4–5, and 6–1, converging at the flat base. A pronounced seam between panels 2 and 3 indicates imperfect mold closure. A deep irregular crimp is present at the base of the neck. The rim is folded outward, upward, and inward. A tall cylindrical neck with a constriction at its base connects to a convex shoulder and bottom. The body is decorated in high relief, similar to Cat. No. 41, with six rectangular panels each featuring a frontal theatrical mask, bordered below by a narrow egg-and-dart motif.

Published ReferencesLightfoot, Christopher S., "A Roman Glass Flask in Gazlante's Museum," Anatolian Studies, Journal of the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara XXXV, 1985, p. 124 (reprint in doc file 1923.429).

Lightfoot, Christopher S., "A Roman Glass Flask in Gaziantep Museum," Anatolian Studies, vol. 35, 1985, p. 125, no. 17.

Lightfoot, Christopher S., "A Group of Early Roman Mold-Blown Flasks from the West," Journal of Glass Studies 29, 1987, p. 21, no. 12, fig. 7, p. 15 (incorrectly describing the panels as showing two repeated sets of three masks and the shoulder as having six radiating ribs).

Stern, E. Marianne, Roman Mold-Blown Glass: The First Through Sixth Centuries, Rome, Italy, "L'Erma" di Bretschneider in association with the Toledo Museum of Art, 1995, cat. no. 42, pp. 137-138, color pl. 8, p. 53, photograph, fig. 55.

Puma, Richard Daniel de, Art In Roman Life: Villa to Grave, Rome, L'erma di Bretschneider, 2009, p. 92, repr. (col.) p. 93, fig. 49.