Condition
Cracked; fully preserved; iridescent. Parts of the neck are covered with crust. Some of the ornamental thread is missing.
Description
Fire-polished, vertical rim; cylindrical neck, constricted toward the body; globular body; flat, slightly concave bottom. Three thick coils are wound around the central part of the neck at equal distances. A fine thread is spirally wound eight times around the central part of the neck and over the three coils.
Inside the body four thin tubular threads descend from the lower body to the shoulder. Three of them remain detached at the lower part of the body. The threads were made with the insertion of a pointed tool into the lower part of the initial , creating a tubular opening that would end at the inside surface of the shoulder. With further expansion of the vessel the tubular hole would assume the shape of a thread.
Comments and Comparanda
The shape of the rim and neck are characteristic of sixth- and seventh-century Syro-Palestinian products, as are the applied coils and threads (Stern, Eva Marianne. 2001. Roman, Byzantine, and Early Medieval Glass, 10 BCE–700 CE: Ernesto Wolf Collection. Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz., p. 263), all features appearing in this vessel. For the classification of this type of vessel, see Barag, Dan. 1970. “Glass Vessels of the Roman and Byzantine Periods in Palestine.” PhD diss. [in Hebrew], Hebrew University, Jerusalem., vol. 2, plate 43, type 15.22. Provenanced finds include a vessel from an archaeological context of the second half of the seventh century CE at Kourion, Cyprus (Young, Susan. 1993. “A Preview of Seventh-Century Glass from the Kourion Basilica, Cyprus.” Journal of Glass Studies 35: 39–47., pp. 44, 47, fig. 8, no. 9); another reportedly from the vicinity of the Sea of Galilee (Auth, Susan Handler. 1976. Ancient Glass at the Newark Museum from the Eugene Schaefer Collection of Antiquities. Newark, NJ: Newark Museum., p. 128, no. 158). At least three unprovenanced examples have been published (Ancient Glass: The Bomford Collection of Pre-Roman and Roman Glass on Loan to the City of Bristol Museum and Art Gallery. 1976. Bristol: Museum and Art Gallery., p. 34, no. 159; Harden, Donald Benjamin, Kenneth S. Painter, Ralph H. Pinder-Wilson, and Hugh Tait. 1968. Masterpieces of Glass, exh. cat. London: British Museum., p. 90, no. 125; Stern, Eva Marianne. 2001. Roman, Byzantine, and Early Medieval Glass, 10 BCE–700 CE: Ernesto Wolf Collection. Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz., pp. 263–264, 266, 268–270, 302, no. 165; Harden, Donald Benjamin, Kenneth S. Painter, Ralph H. Pinder-Wilson, and Hugh Tait. 1968. Masterpieces of Glass, exh. cat. London: British Museum., p. 90, no. 125, British Museum).
Provenance
1971, Royal Athena Galleries (New York, New York), sold to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 1971
Bibliography
Lees-Causey, Catherine. 1983. “Some Roman Glass in the J. Paul Getty Museum.” J. Paul Getty Museum Journal 11: 153–157., p. 154, fig. 3.
Wight, Karol. 2011. Molten Color: Glassmaking in Antiquity. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum., pp. 63, 70, fig. 46.
Exhibitions
None