Glass two-handled bottle (amphora)

Unknown

1st century CE · Glass · Greek and Roman Art

Translucent cobalt blue; handles in same color, but one streaked with opaque white; splashed decoration in opaque white and opaque pale yellow. Everted rim, folded over and in; concave cylindrical neck; steeply sloping shoulder; side of body tapering downwards; concave bottom; two rod handles applied as large pads on shoulder over splashed decoration, drawn up, out and round in a curve, and pressed onto side of neck below rim. Decoration applied before inflation causing splashes to expand and become elongated on neck. Intact; few bubbles; pitting of splashed decoration on exterior, some weathering on interior. The decoration was created by applying small fragments of differently colored glass to the surface of the vessel before it was fully blown. Such glassware was very fashionable in the middle decades of the 1st century A.D. and may have been influenced by the production of cast mosaic glass.

Artist

Unknown

Date

1st century CE

Medium

Glass

Culture

Roman

Department

Greek and Roman Art

Credit line

Bequest of Walter C. Baker, 1971