Flask

Applied threads of blue and white glass decorate the colorless body of this Roman glass flask. Simple, trailed-on threads of glass, as seen on the neck of this flask, were a common Roman glass ornament, but the sinuous, flattened ribbons, as seen on the flask's body, gives this type of glass decoration its name: snake-thread. This vessel, with its floral ornament of flattened leaves spreading out from twisting stems, belongs to the "flower and bird" group. Snake-thread glass originated in the eastern provinces of the Roman empire and was subsequently produced there and in the west near Cologne in modern Germany. The two production centers created different styles of snake-thread glass. The Museum's flask appears to blend elements of both styles. Two features of this flask, however, show its eastern origin: the use of cross-hatching rather than single lines on the leaves and the use of "flower and bird" decoration.