Guttus or Lampfiller
The Augustinus Collection of Ancient Glass
2nd. to 4th. century A.D. Isings form 99
H: 8.5 cm D:5.0 cm Base: 4cm l. Spout: 2.2 cm
Technique: Blown; spout aplied; plain, rounded rim.
Description: Globular body of transluscent greenish glass; mouth __with plain, rounded rim; neck cylindrical, slightly splaying towards the body; tubular spout placed approximately halfway the body; concave bottom; no pontil mark.
Condition: Complete and intact; exterior dull, black, brown and light-brown accretion, mixed __with silvery iridescence.
Remarks: The guttus from Aquileia (gruppo B, cat. 191) comes very close to this version, in seize and low position of the spout. Calvi suggests the bottle to be a lampfiller, but several finds in the nineteenth century connected to the graves of children in the gallo-romanic area, especially northern france, arroused the idea that these bottles could be feeding bottles placed in the grave as a symbol, according to Sennequier quoting M. Buccovala who also states that the Gutti without a handle can be dated to the first and second century coming from Roumania, where as Fremersdorf sees an origin in Syria. Fremersdorf calls the guttus: Saugkaenchen, aswell: Giesserschen. feeding bottle and filler in 1958.
Provenance: From a dutch private collection.
Reference: Cochet, 1854, La Normandie souterraine. Kisa, 1908, f. 219, p. 332. Die Infundibula. Moirin-Jean, 1911, forme: 52, p. 109. Isings, Utrecht, 1957: form 99 p. 118 (with handle). Fremersdorf, 1958, IV, p. 36, nr 64-65. Calvi, 1969, Aquileia: gruppo B, cat. 191. La Baume,1973, Koeln I, nr. D87, pl. 37. Auth, 1976, Newark, p. 227, nr. 503. Goethert-Polaschek, 1977, Trier, form 116b, p.137 (with handle). Boosen,1984, Kassel, p.70 nr. 138. Sennequier, 1985, p. 192- 195, nrs. 298 – 299.