Ancient Roman Piriform Amphoriskos

£ 500.00

A piriform shaped juglet in pale green glass featuring an applied handle trailing from the rim to the top of the globular body. Trailing, and indentations left from trailing, are still visible to the neck of the jug. The majority of original trailing has fallen away through time.

Date: Circa 2nd-3rd Century AD
Condition: Very fine. Original trailing is missing for the majority, although some does remain to the top and indentations still exist. An attractive yellow-silver iridescence covers the surface.

SOLD

Product Code: RGS-24
Category: Tag:

Glass was often the preferred material for storing expensive oils, perfumes, and medicines in antiquity because it was not porous. The small body and mouth allowed the user to carefully pour and control the amount of liquid dispensed. By the 1st century AD, the technique of glass-blowing had revolutionised the art of glass-making, allowing for the production of small medicine, incense, and perfume containers in new forms. Glass vessels are found frequently at Hellenistic and Roman sites, especially in cemeteries, and the liquids, which filled them, would have been gathered from all corners of the expansive Roman Empire. This piece was decorated with the technique of trailed threading where molten glass threads in contrasting colours were wound onto the body of the hot vessel in a spiral.

To learn more about Roman glass, visit our relevant post: How It Was Made: Roman Glass.

Dimensions W 3.2 x H 11 cm
Glass

Blown Glass

Region

Southern Europe

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