Hexagonal Bottle, Fruit Type, Series B
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for Hexagonal Bottle, Fruit Type, Series B
Hexagonal Bottle, Fruit Type, Series B
Place of OriginPhoenicia, possibly made in Sidon
DateProbably second half of first century
DimensionsH: 3 3/8 in. (8.5 cm); Rim Diam: 1 in. (2.6 cm); Diam: 1 15/16 in. (4.9 cm); Base Diam: 7/8 in. (2.3 cm)
MediumGlass; mold blown, tooled.
ClassificationGlass
Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number
1923.436
Not on View
DescriptionTranslucent dark brownish manganese colored glass.
Neck free blown. Body blown into a three-part mold of three vertical sections (MCT IV). Mold seams between panels 2 and 3, 4 and 5, and 6 and 1 meet at center of underside of base. Relief high but indistinct. Two vertical crimps at base of neck from tool used to hold vessel while finishing rim.
Rim folded outward, upward, and inward. Cylindrical neck. Convex circular shoulder and convex circular bottom joined by a hexagonal body. Base flat.
On the shoulder, in blurred relief, a floral motif (heart-shaped lotus buds above center of panels, alternating with pomegranates or palmettes between panels). On the body, six rectangular panels divided by thin vertical ribs with slightly broadened ends that make them resemble degenerated columns with capitals and bases; each panel contains a fruit. In the panels, from left to right: 1 and 4, a pomegranate; 2 and 5, a bunch of grapes; 3 and 6, a cedar cone. Around the bottom, twenty-seven upturned flutes.
CLASSIFICATION: Fruit Type, Series B 1.
Translucent dark brownish manganese colored glass.
Neck free blown. Body blown into a three-part mold of three vertical sections (MCT IV A). Mold seams between panels 2 and 3, 4 and 5, and 6 and 1 meet at center of underside of base. Relief high but indistinct. Two vertical crimps at base of neck from tool used to hold vessel while finishing rim.
Rim folded outward, upward, and inward. Cylindrical neck. Convex circular shoulder and convex circular bottom joined by a hexagonal body. Base flat.
On the shoulder, in blurred relief, an inverted floral motif (heart-shaped lotus buds above center of panels, alternating with pomegranates or palmettes between panels). On the body, six rectangular panels divided by thin vertical ribs with slightly broadened ends that make them resemble degenerated columns with capitals and bases; each panel contains a fruit. In the panels, from left to right: 1 and 4, a pomegranate; 2 and 5, a bunch of grapes; 3 and 6, a cedar cone. Around the bottom, twenty-seven upturned flutes.
CLASSIFICATION Fruit Type, Series B
Published ReferencesEisen, Gustavus A., with Fahim Kouchakji, Glass: Its Origin, History, Chronology, Technic and Classification to the Sixteenth Century, vol. I, New York, 1927, p. 253, fig. 121, pl. 52.
Lightfoot, Christopher S., "A Roman Glass Flask in the Gaziantep Museum," Anatolian Studies, Journal of the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara 35, 1985, p. 125, no. 22.
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. 40, pp. 133-135, color pl. 7, p. 53.
Perhaps second quarter of first century
Probably mid- to second half of first century
Probably second quarter of the first century
Probably first half of first century
Probably mid-first century
Probably mid-first century
Probably first quarter of first century
Probably mid-first century or earlier
Probably second quarter of first century
Probably mid-first century
Probably second half of first century
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