HEXAGONAL AMPULLA OLEARIA OR ARYBALLOS

HEXAGONAL AMPULLA OLEARIA OR ARYBALLOS of  Hans van Rossum

ROMAN HEXAGONAL AMPULLA OLEARIA OR ARYBALLOS

1st century- early 2nd century AD | Found in Cologne

Size↑11.8 cm | ø 4.7 cm | Weight 132 g

Technique: Mold-blown, neck and mouth free blown; handles applied, tooled

Classification: Sorokina 1987 type A D8 | Morin-Jean 1913 form 33D, fig. 57, handles type ζ

Description: A transparent bluish-green hexagonal bottle. Tapering body, mouth-form with small opening and triangular hollow rim. Flattened base, no pontil mark. Two opposed handles applied on the shoulder, drawn up to top-part of neck and pulled down forming a hole. Two bronze rings, made by bending length of wire into circle held in place by twisting the overlapping ends, the rings pass through the two glass handles. Bronze looped carrying handle in form of an omega (Ώ) attached to the two bronze rings by folding the end.

Condition: Intact with rest of original substance, perfect condition

Remarks: A hexagonal ampulla olearia or aryballos with a hexagonal body and including the original bronze attributes is exceedingly rare. At the base in white paint: R22

Provenance: Collection C.A. Hessing, Laren (NL) 1998, formed in the 1990s, collection number 75
Private collection Axel Weber Cologne, prior to 1995, Collection Wünnenberg, Germany

Reference: De Romeinse Glasverzameling, M. Vanderhoeven no. 73, Römisches geformtes Glas in Köln, Band VI, F. Fremersdorf, Tafel 121. Nos. N 391 & 921, Verrerie d´Epoque Romaine, Collection des Musées Départementaux de Seine Maritime, G. Sennequier no. 214, Verres Romains des Musées Curtius et du Verre a Liège, M. Vanderhoeven nos. 125 & 126, Musée de Boulogne, inv. no. 2561, Aryballos from Bréquerecque, Gallo-Romeins Museum Tongeren, inv. no. 829, La Verrerie de l’Epogue Romaine, au Musée d’Histoire et d’Art-Luxembourg, E. Wilhelm no. 90