Glass head flask

Translucent cobalt blue, with same color handle and base.

Everted rim with cracked off vertical lip; broad funnel-shaped neck, splaying slightly at base; narrow horizontal shoulder; body molded into the shape of a head in the round, with vertical mold marks down sides of head in hair behind ears; below head sides curve in to round bottom; thick trail wound round bottom 3½ times to form splayed base ring; wishbone handle applied to lower half of neck in a large pad, drawn out and up, then tooled into a pinched thumb-rest with acute angle below, and drawn vertically down to back of head and trailed off down to base with decoration of twenty horizontal ribs.

The head portrays a youth with long hair arranged in wavy locks at back, reaching to nape of the neck and behind the ears; fringe of straight locks on his forehead; the head has prominent ears, almond-shaped eyes with inset pupils, and a protruding, thick upper lip, pointed nose, and small chin.

Intact, except for a small chips at proper right side of head and in base ring; slight encrustation and faint dulling.

The head is that of a youth with the large almond-shaped eyes and neat, flowing locks that are typical of Late Roman portraiture.