Bottle with Vessels

Object Name: 
Bottle with Vessels

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Object Name: 
Bottle with Vessels
Accession Number: 
62.1.17
Dimensions: 
Overall H: 8.7 cm, Diam (max): 3.6 cm
Location: 
On Display
Date: 
1-99
Credit Line: 
Gift of Giorgio Sangiorgi
Primary Description: 
Deep blue, translucent glass; mold-blown: bottom of neck and body blown in mold with three vertical sections. Hexagonal bottle. Rim everted, with rounded lip made by folding up and in; neck cylindrical, with short vertical crimp at bottom; shoulder tapers, with rounded edge; wall bulges slightly, then tapers at bottom; base plain; no pontil mark. Decoration in prominent relief on shoulder and wall. On shoulder: six pointed arches, each containing one unidentified bulbous object. On wall: six rectangular panels divided by columns, each supporting sides of two arches on shoulder, and each with broad abacus and torus capital, plain shaft, and double torus base. In each panel, one vessel (from left to right): (1) tall jug with spout to left and handle to right; (2) bowl with wide mouth, two vertical handles extending from shoulder to rim, narrow stem, and foot; three rows of rounded objects (perhaps fruit) project above rim; (3) tall vessel with wide mouth, two short vertical handles on shoulder and foot; (4) bowl with wide mouth, tall fluted neck, wide body, stem and foot; two rows of rounded objects (perhaps more fruit) project above rim; (5) jug, similar to (1), but without spout; (6) tall vessel, similar to vessel in (3). Mold seams extend from top of shoulder above columns between panes 2 and 3, 4 and 5, and 6 and 1, down wall and across base, meeting in Y-shaped pattern with stem of Y belonging to seam between panels 4 and 5.
Department: 
Provenance: 
Sangiorgi, Giorgio (Italian, 1886-1965), Source
1962
Category: 
Color: 
Technique: 
Material: 
Venue(s)
Metropolitan Museum of Art 2014-12-09 through 2015-04-13
Corning Museum of Glass 2015-05-16 through 2016-01-04
At the end of the first century B.C., glassmakers working in the environs of Jerusalem made a revolutionary breakthrough in the way glass was made. They discovered that glass could be inflated at the end of a hollow tube. This technical achievement—glassblowing—made the production of glass vessels much quicker and easier, and allowed glassmakers to develop new shapes and decorative techniques. One technique, inflating glass in molds carved with decorative and figural designs, was used to create multiple examples of a variety of vessel shapes with high-relief patterns. The molds used to shape this ancient glass were complex in their design, and the mold-blown glass vessels of ancient Rome tell a wealth of stories about the ancient world, from gladiators to perfume vessels, from portraits of a Roman empress to oil containers marked with the image of Mercury, Roman god of trade. Among the earliest workshops to design and create mold-blown glass was one in which a man named Ennion worked. Ennion was the first glassmaker to sign his glass objects by incorporating his name into the inscriptions that formed part of the mold’s design, and thus he stands among a small group of glass workers whose names have come down to us from antiquity. On view through January, 4, 2016, Ennion and His Legacy, is composed of mold-blown master works by Ennion and other Roman glassmakers. The works are drawn from the Corning Museum’s collection of Roman glass, one of the finest in the world. Within the larger exhibit is a smaller exhibit organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Ennion: Master of Roman Glass, which focuses specifically on works made by Ennion. Composed of loans from a number of international institutions and private collections this exhibit within an exhibit brings together many of the known examples of Ennion’s wares and will be on view through October 19, 2015.
Treasures in Glass
Venue(s)
Allentown Art Museum 1966 through 1966
 
Roman Glass in The Corning Museum of Glass, Volume Two (2001) illustrated, pp. 36-37, pl. 506; BIB# 58895
Forgeries and Reproductions of Ancient Glass in Corning (1977) illustrated, p. 55, fig. 36; BIB# AI90923
Treasures in Glass (1966) pp. 18, 20, #13; BIB# 28036