Bottle
1st century
Medium
Glass, mold-blown
Dimensions
8 × 5.5 × 5.1 cm (3 1/8 × 2 1/8 × 2 in.)
Classification
bottle
Department
Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
49056
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Initially affordable only among the wealthy, glass was used in ancient Rome as containers for oils, perfume, and tablewares. The variety of glass-making techniques reveals the changing tastes and fashions over the centuries. During the 1st century A.D., cast glass was a novel form that was a luxury for the Roman household, but by the end of the century, the innovation of blown glass - the technique used to create this vessel - allowed for less labor-intensive and less expensive production and me...
About the Artist
Ancient Roman
The artists attributed to "Ancient Roman" in museum collections represent the anonymous craftsmen who produced the vast output of sculpture, frescoes, mosaics, and reliefs defining Roman visual culture from the Republic (c. 509–27 BCE) to the late Empire (c. 395 CE). Individual identities remain elusive, as Roman makers were typically viewed as skilled tradesmen—often enslaved Greeks or provincial...