Roman, 3rd-4th century A.D.

Glass

H: 11.6 cm, D: 8.9 cm

Serial no.: 7697

PROVENANCE: Ex- European private collection

This intact Roman glass jar is of a type common during the 3rd-4th centuries A.D. in the Roman empire; with its elegant globular body and flaring, funnel-shaped neck, this jar would have been ideal for the storage of unguents and perfumes. The glass is of a lovely greenish yellow hue, and is decorated with shallow ribs which swirl down from left to right. 

This jar was fashioned using a dip mold. In this process, molten glass was blown into a small mold with decoration in negative relief, in this case, ridges. Once the pattern from the inside of the mold was impressed, the jar was then removed from the mold and further inflated to created the desired size and shape.