Glass square bottle with base inscription
Translucent blue green; handle in same color.
Slanting rim folded out, down, over, and in, and flattened on top surface, forming a restricted oval opening to mouth; cylindrical neck with tooling marks around base; uneven shoulder, partially pushed in, with rounded corners; tall, misshapen square body with vertical sides; sides with irregular concave profile towards top; two opposite sides have vertical ribbing in shallow relief (from mold ?); bottom pushed in at center with part of circular pontil; broad three-ribbed handle applied in a thick pad to edge of shoulder, drawn up, turned in at an acute angle, and trailed onto neck and underside of rim with a single upright fold.
On bottom, four projecting circular bosses, one at each corner, and a Greek inscription in relief, written in retrograde, across the middle: BACOY.
Intact; many bubbles; some soil encrustation and creamy brown weathering on exterior, encrustation, weathering, and brilliant iridescence on interior.
Many everyday containers were made in molds to a consistent size, like modern wine or beer bottles. Some of the molds included a stamp, usually on the base, as a trademark, although it remains uncertain whether this referred to the bottles or to their contents. On this example there is a name in the genitive case in large Greek letters on the base: it reads BACOY ("of Basos").
Slanting rim folded out, down, over, and in, and flattened on top surface, forming a restricted oval opening to mouth; cylindrical neck with tooling marks around base; uneven shoulder, partially pushed in, with rounded corners; tall, misshapen square body with vertical sides; sides with irregular concave profile towards top; two opposite sides have vertical ribbing in shallow relief (from mold ?); bottom pushed in at center with part of circular pontil; broad three-ribbed handle applied in a thick pad to edge of shoulder, drawn up, turned in at an acute angle, and trailed onto neck and underside of rim with a single upright fold.
On bottom, four projecting circular bosses, one at each corner, and a Greek inscription in relief, written in retrograde, across the middle: BACOY.
Intact; many bubbles; some soil encrustation and creamy brown weathering on exterior, encrustation, weathering, and brilliant iridescence on interior.
Many everyday containers were made in molds to a consistent size, like modern wine or beer bottles. Some of the molds included a stamp, usually on the base, as a trademark, although it remains uncertain whether this referred to the bottles or to their contents. On this example there is a name in the genitive case in large Greek letters on the base: it reads BACOY ("of Basos").
Artwork Details
- Title: Glass square bottle with base inscription
- Period: Mid Imperial
- Date: 2nd century CE
- Culture: Roman
- Medium: Glass; mold-blown
- Dimensions: 6 1/2 x 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 in. (16.5 x 5.7 x 5.7 cm)
- Classification: Glass
- Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 2000
- Object Number: 2000.65
- Curatorial Department: Greek and Roman Art
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