Glass bottle with snake-thread decoration

Unknown

3rd century CE · Glass · Greek and Roman Art

Colorless; trails in opaque white and opaque blue. Everted rim, folded over and in, and smoothed into side of flaring mouth; cylindrical neck, expanding downwards; squat, globular body; applied, partially tubular base ring; flat bottom with pontil scar at center. Around top of neck, a fine blue trail wound in an overlapping spiral; on body, four separate trails, alternately white and blue, each making the same abstract curvilinear design, flattened and serrated at top. Broken and repaired, with some losses to lower neck and to trail around neck; pinprick bubbles; dulling, some gritty encrustation on bottom inside base ring, and weathering and encrustation on interior. Vase with blue and white serpentine applied thread bands.

Artist

Unknown

Date

3rd century CE

Medium

Glass

Culture

Roman, Rhenish

Department

Greek and Roman Art

Credit line

Gift of Henry G. Marquand, 1881