Elegant Roman Glass Vessel Applied Handle

Roman, Imperial Period, ca. 3rd to 4th century CE. A beautiful jug of an elegant form, free-blown from translucent glass of a yellow-green hue. The inverted piriform body has a slightly concave base with a smooth pontil scar, a rounded shoulder, a tapered neck, and a funnel-form mouth with a rolled rim. A singular handle was first applied to the shoulder, pulled up to an angle, attached to the rim, and pinched on the top to form a thumb rest. Glass jugs like this example were used to contain large volumes of scented oils, though the gaping mouth suggests it held a more regularly used substance like table olive oil or the fermented fish sauce called garum. Brilliant layers of silvery and rainbow-hued iridescence have formed across the exterior and gracefully complement the vessel's soft spring coloration. Size: 2.7" W x 7.25" H (6.9 cm x 18.4 cm)

For a stylistically similar example with a wider body, please see "Solid Liquid: Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Islamic Art." Fortuna Fine Arts, Ltd., New York, 1999, p. 86, fig. 154.

For another stylistically similar example with a discoid foot and a wider midsection, please see The Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 81.10.250.

Provenance: ex-private prominent D.K. collection, New York, USA, acquired in the 2000s

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#152748
Condition Report: Minor abrasions and encrustations to base, body, handle, neck, and rim, with micro-bubbling within glass matrix, light weathering film, and petite chip to trail of thumb rest inside rim, otherwise intact and excellent. Pontil mark on underside of base. A pontil scar or mark indicates that a vessel was free-blown, while the absence of such a mark suggests that the work was either mold-blown or that the mark was intentionally smoothed away or wore away over time. Nice earthen deposits as well as wonderful silver and rainbow iridescence throughout.