200. Janiform Unguentarium

Condition

Intact; milky crust on some parts.

Description

In-folded, tubular, horizontal rim; cylindrical neck, tapering toward the body; flat, slightly concave bottom. Body in shape of two young, beardless male faces—boyish, chubby, and with curly hair—arranged back-to-back. One face is a little bit lower than the other. Blown into a bipartite mold of two vertical sections, open at the base. Neck and rim free-blown and tooled. Mold seams concealed in hair at the junction of the heads.

Comments and Comparanda

Janiform vessels belong to a large group of mold-blown vessels that quite naturalistically depict human heads. The body of the vessel features either a whole head or the frontal part of two heads placed back-to-back. There are also a few examples with more than two heads forming the body. The vessels of the first and second group are occasionally supplemented with a handle. Most of the examples in general are handleless flasks or unguentaria; some are single-handled cups; and a very few are double-handled, close-shaped vessels.

Janiform unguentaria are typically products of the eastern Mediterranean, probably from the Syro-Palestinian region, where many of the extant examples are found; they traveled to the western Mediterranean provinces, the Balkans, and the Black Sea. They are dated from the third (Isings 1957, p. 94, form 78b; Stern 1995, p. 203, form A4) to the middle of the fifth century CE (Antonaras 2009, pp. 324–326, form 146 = Antonaras 2017, pp. 163–164; Foy 2010b, pp. 264–266), characterized by heavy cheeks and chin, and accentuated curly hair. Other comparanda include the following: Hayes 1975, p. 50, no. 94, plate 7; Auth 1976, p. 74, no. 74; Matheson 1980, p. 73, no. 191; Stern 1995, pp. 210, 232–238, nos. 149–157; Foy 2010b, pp. 261–266; Antonaras 2012, p. 82, no. 82; Antonaras 2017, pp. 163–165, form 146.

Provenance

By 1974–1988, Erwin Oppenländer, 1901–1988 (Waiblingen, Germany), by inheritance to his son, Gert Oppenländer, 1988; 1988–2003, Gert Oppenländer (Waiblingen, Germany), sold to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 2003

Bibliography

von Saldern 1968, p. 17, no. 24.

von Saldern et al. 1974, p. 170, no. 466.

Stern 1995, p. 234, nt. 1.b.

Exhibitions

Molten Color: Glassmaking in Antiquity (Malibu, 2005–2006; 2007; 2009–2010)

Gläser der Antike: Sammlung Erwin Oppenländer (Hamburg and Cologne, 1974–1975)

Meisterwerke der Glaskunst aus internationalem Privatbesitz (Düsseldorf, 1968–1969)