Grape Bunch-shaped Bottle

Place of OriginRoman Empire

DateSecond half of the 1st century CE

DimensionsH: 3 in. (7.6 cm); Diam: 13/16 in. (2.1 cm)

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

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.886

Not on View

DescriptionThis bottle is made of medium-thin glass in an opaque streaked pale purple blue hue, with black streaks visible on the interior of the neck and a white streak on the exterior. The neck was formed by free-blowing, while the body was blown into a two-part mold consisting of two vertical sections. A continuous mold seam runs around the body and extends onto the underside of the base (MCT VIII). The relief remains crisp. The rim is folded outward, upward, and inward. The tall cylindrical neck rises above a body shaped like a three-lobed bunch of small round grapes, with a vine leaf hanging from the shoulder on each side. The bottle has a slender profile that tapers toward the top and a concave underside of the base.

Published ReferencesStern, E. Marianne, Roman Mold-blown Glass: The First through Sixth Centuries, Rome, "L'Erma" di Bretschneider, 1995, p. 180, no. 109, color pl. 17.