Glass sprinkler flask with snake-thread decroation
Translucent light blue green; base ring and trail in same color.
Outsplayed rim, folded down, round, and in; slanting, funnel-shaped mouth; short, cylindrical neck, with folded diaphragm at base; conical body with straight side, then curving in sharply; applied, solid base ring; low kick in bottom with small pontil scar at center.
A single continuous trail wound around body in a sinuous pattern, partially flattened and decorated with close-set tooled notches.
Intact; a few pinprick and elongated bubbles, and blowing striations; slight dulling and small patches of limy encrustation and iridescent weathering on exterior, larger patches of soil encrustation, weathering, and brilliant iridescence on exterior.
Although the snake-thread decoration seen here is found on Roman glassware throughout the Empire, the shape of this flask belongs firmly in the eastern tradition. It has a constriction at the base of the neck that allowed the contents to be poured out only in drops and so has become known as a sprinkler flask.
Outsplayed rim, folded down, round, and in; slanting, funnel-shaped mouth; short, cylindrical neck, with folded diaphragm at base; conical body with straight side, then curving in sharply; applied, solid base ring; low kick in bottom with small pontil scar at center.
A single continuous trail wound around body in a sinuous pattern, partially flattened and decorated with close-set tooled notches.
Intact; a few pinprick and elongated bubbles, and blowing striations; slight dulling and small patches of limy encrustation and iridescent weathering on exterior, larger patches of soil encrustation, weathering, and brilliant iridescence on exterior.
Although the snake-thread decoration seen here is found on Roman glassware throughout the Empire, the shape of this flask belongs firmly in the eastern tradition. It has a constriction at the base of the neck that allowed the contents to be poured out only in drops and so has become known as a sprinkler flask.
Artwork Details
- Title: Glass sprinkler flask with snake-thread decroation
- Period: Mid Imperial
- Date: 3rd century CE
- Culture: Roman, Syrian
- Medium: Glass; blown and trailed
- Dimensions: H. 4 3/16 in. (10.7 cm)
- Classification: Glass
- Credit Line: Fletcher Fund, 1959
- Object Number: 59.11.11
- Curatorial Department: Greek and Roman Art
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3rd century CE
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