this mouse is a roman flask

www.metmuseum.org
Gift of Renée E. and Robert A. Belfer, 2012

Fashioned by a Roman craftsman in the third century A.D., this graceful glass flask is unusual for several reasons.  It's a mouse, for one thing, with the flask's neck placed to serve as the tail.  It's cobalt blue.  Last but not least, it's embellished with an applied linear detail we currently call "snake-thread."  Read more about this piece here.  And if, like me, you were wondering "Which emperors were there in the third century A.D.?"  maybe this will help.