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2008.18.2.17, Roman Flask with Funnel Neck

Catalogue Entry听
Photograph of glass vase, with flat bottom, rounded body, and neck with straight sides that flare outward to mouth, from the side against a neutral gray background.

From the Catalogue of听Ancient Glass in the University of Colorado Museum

Gift of H. Medill Sarkisian and Justine Sarkisian Rodriguez (1979)
(2008)
Height:听10.2 cm
Diameter (max.):听6.1 cm
Roman, 4th century C.E.

Classification:听Isings Form 104b;听Harden Fabric 4

Description: Funnel mouth with rounded听rim. Bulbous听body, without base ring. Low relief fluting on body, resulting in nine ribs that reach halfway up body. Pontil mark on base. Green.听听and flaking. Blown, with ribs pinched during reheating.

Comment:听Vessels of this sort were probably used as a table ware for wine and other liquids. The funnel neck is particularly well-suited for filling and pouring听(1).听Examples of this form come from all over the Roman Empire. Similar examples are Harden 1966, fig. 10;听Stern 2001, nos. 104 and 105; Whitehouse 1997, no. 312; and possibly Gorin-Rosen 2004,听no. 11. See also Hayes 1975,听nos. 316 and 317, which have similar shapes but lack fluting.

Discussion

The green color of this glass flask comes from a small amount of natural metal in the ingredients. All sand used for making glass has a very small percentage of metals in it. Green glass is caused by one- to three-percent of iron mixed in with the sand. It is uncertain how much the ancient Roman听glassmakers听could control the tint of the glass, but they knew which metals caused which colors (2).

Photograph of glass vase, with flat bottom, rounded body, and neck with straight sides that flare outward to mouth, from a slightly raised angle against a neutral gray background.
There is a small听 of this flask. A pontil was used during the final shaping of glass vessels. When a vase was being blown, it was connected to a blowpipe at the mouth (top) of the vessel. When it came time to detach the vase from the blowpipe, a staff, or pontil, was heated and stuck onto the bottom of the vase. This allowed the glassworker to snap the blowpipe off of the top of the glass, and keep a hold of the vessel from the bottom. Then the glass piece was held by the pontil while the mouth was reheated and smoothed. Pontil marks show up on many flasks, and were rarely erased after the glass cooled. Before the pontil was invented, glassworkers used clamps to hold the vessel by the neck when snapping it off the blowpipe (3).

Footnotes

  1. Gladys D. Weinberg and E. Marianne Stern, Vessel Glass. The Athenian Agora听Vol. 34 (Princeton: The American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 2009): 104.听
  2. Donald B. Harden,听Roman Glass from Karanis听(Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1936): 6-9.
  3. E. Marianne Stern,听Roman Mold-Blown Glass听(Toledo, Ohio: Toledo Museum of Art, 1995): 43-44.

References

  • Gorin-Rosen, Y.听鈥淭he Glass Vessels from the Cemetery of Horbat Rimmon,鈥澨鈥楢迟颈辩辞迟听46 (2004): 113-124.
  • Harden, D. B.听鈥淪ome Tomb Groups of late Roman Date in the Amman Museum,鈥澨Annales du 3e Congres des 鈥淛ourn茅es du Verre,鈥 (Damascus, 14-23 Novembre, 1964).听Li猫ge:听1966: 48-55.
  • Hayes, J. W.听Roman and Pre-Roman Glass in the Royal Ontario Museum.听罢辞谤辞苍迟辞:听1975.
  • Stern, E. M.听Roman, Byzantine, and Early Medieval Glass: 10 BCE-700 CE: The Ernesto Wolf Collection.听Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz, 2001.
  • Weinberg, G. D. and E. M. Stern.听Vessel Glass. The Athenian Agora听Vol. 34. Princeton: The American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 2009.听
  • Whitehouse, D.听Roman Glass in the Corning Museum of Glass, v. 1.听Corning, NY: Corning Museum of Glass, 1997.