209. Hexagonal Amphoriskos

Condition

Intact; small areas with iridescence and pitting.

Description

Rounded, fire-polished, flaring rim; short, cylindrical neck; rounded, sloping shoulder; hexagonal body tapering toward the bottom; flat hexagonal bottom bisected by the mold seam. Two coil handles applied on the shoulder, drawn upward, and attached on the upper part of the neck. The handles are placed adjacent to the seam.

On the shoulder, six lunettes in raised outline and a tendril that stems from their side and stretches above them. On the body, six oblong panels framed by a double ridge at the top and a single ridge at the three other sides of each panel. One continuous seam around body and underside of base between panels. Each half of the mold consisted of three panels of equal width, and the motifs on each panel are separated by a ridge. One part of the mold has a palm frond at the central panel flanked by panels with scrolls facing toward it. In the central panel of the other half of the mold are two ivy leaves flanked by panels with scrolls facing toward them. The upper part of the scrolls of each part are slightly different. In total, four panels bear scrolls and, on the upper part, a lunette with an X-shaped cross; one panel bears ivy leaves and, on the upper part, a plant with vertical stalk and two pairs of downcurved, elongated leaves; one panel bears a palm frond, and on the upper part are three dots. A tendril stems from the side of the lunettes and extends over them. It stems on the right side of the central panels and on the left side of the side ones, forming loose heart-shaped motifs.

Lunettes: (1) X / handle; (2) three dots; (3) X; (4) X / handle; (5) cross; (6) X.

Body panels: (1) scroll facing right; (2) palm frond with 10 pairs of leaves; (3) scroll facing right; (4) scroll facing left; (5) two ivy leaves pointing to the upper and lower ends of the panel; (6) scroll facing left.

Comments and Comparanda

These hexagonal flasks are known in at least four different variants, which are distinguished by the arrangement and the themes of the decorative motifs. The form derives from a larger form of hexagonal bottles made by the famous glassblower Ennion, who probably drew inspiration for this form from architecture, likely either a shrine or a covered altar, possibly of Dionysus since the vegetation on them is associated with that god and his retinue (Lehrer 1979, p. 9, plate 3, nos. 1–4; Lightfoot et al. 2014, pp. 84–86, nos. 9–10). The only exact parallel, made of yellowish brown glass, is in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem (Israeli 2011, pp. 54–55). For parallels with similar but not identical arrangement of the motifs, see Auth 1976, pp. 66–67, no. 60; Matheson 1980, p. 51, no. 129; Stern 1995, pp. 156–157, no. 63 (second variant of the form, although the motifs are not exactly described, as per von Saldern et al. 1974, p. 158, no. 439); Stern 2001, p. 121, no. 50; Whitehouse 2001a, pp. 44–45, no. 515; Weinberg and McClellan 1992, pp. 125–126, no. 98; 3000 Jahre Glaskunst, p. 78, no. 257; Israeli 2011, pp. 48–55; cf. also Ravagnan 1994, p. 33, no. 25, color plate III, a vessel with different motifs.

Provenance

By 1968–1988, 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

JGS 1968, pp. 180–181, no. 8.

Galerie am Neumarkt 1970, no. 129.

von Saldern et al. 1974, p. 158, no. 439, ill. on p. 156.

Stern 1995, p. 157n5.

Exhibitions

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

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