Glass two-handled bottle (amphora)

Roman

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 171

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.

Glass two-handled bottle (amphora), Glass, Roman

Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Open Access

As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.

API

Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.