Condition
Intact. Iridescence and even black crust cover the interior.
Description
Fire-polished, flaring rim; trefoil mouth; wide, cylindrical neck; body pulled to form a spout at its end, assuming the shape of a bird; mildly concave bottom. The tip of the tail is open and has been open from the beginning, as its fire-rounded tip clearly indicates. The pouring slit of the trefoil mouth is inconveniently placed over the body, making it difficult to pour the liquid contents of the vessel from there.
Comments and Comparanda
The actual use of these vessels, known as guti, remains uncertain. There is a testimony in the sources that they were used as baby feeders (Hilgers, Werner. 1969. Lateinische Gefassnamen: Bezeichnungen, Funktion und Form römischer Gefäße nach den antiken Schriftquellen. Düsseldorf: Rheinland-Verlag., s.v. “titina” or “ubuppa,” p. 80), but it has also been proposed that they were used for the filling of oil lamps (McFadden, George H. 1946. “A Tomb of the Necropolis of Ayios Ermoyenis at Kourion.” American Journal of Archaeology 50: 449–489., p. 475, no. 32; Isings, Clasina. 1957. Roman Glass from Dated Finds. Groningen: Wolters., p. 118) or some sort of a drip feeder for medicinal liquids (Welker, Edith. 1974. Die römischen Gläser von Nida-Heddernheim. Schriften des Frankfurter Museums für Vor- und Frühgeschichte 3. Frankfurt: Kramer., pp. 95–98). The more likely hypothesis seems to be that they were used for filling oil lamps, especially clay lamps: their very small filling holes would seem to necessitate the use of a funnel or a spout. However, the obvious discrepancy between the large number of lamps found in excavations and the small number of glass “lamp fillers” does not support this hypothesis unreservedly (Antonaras, Anastassios. 2017. Glassware and Glassworking in Thessaloniki: First Century BC–Sixth Century AD. Oxford: Archaeopress., pp. 102–103). For parallels with baby feeders (guti), see Vessberg, Olof. 1952. “Roman Glass in Cyprus.” Opuscula Archaeologica 7: 109–165., pp. 148–149, gutus type, plates X:1–2, XX:4–5; Barag, Dan. 1970. “Glass Vessels of the Roman and Byzantine Periods in Palestine.” PhD diss. [in Hebrew], Hebrew University, Jerusalem., vol. 2, plate 47, type XXIII:2; Antonaras, Anastassios. 2012. Fire and Sand: Ancient Glass in the Princeton University Art Museum. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press., p. 165, nos. 234–235; Antonaras, Anastassios. 2009. Ρωμαϊκή και παλαιοχριστιανική υαλουργία: 1ος αι. π.Χ.\–6ος αι. μ.Χ.: Παραγωγή και προϊόντα: Τα αγγεία από τη Θεσσαλονίκη και την περιοχή της. Athens: Sideris., form 53a = Antonaras, Anastassios. 2017. Glassware and Glassworking in Thessaloniki: First Century BC–Sixth Century AD. Oxford: Archaeopress., p. 102.
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
Saldern von, Axel, Birgit Nolte, Peter La Baume, and Thea Elisabeth Haevernick. 1974. Gläser der Antike. Sammlung Erwin Oppenländer. Mainz: von Zabern., pp. 204–205, no. 574.
Exhibitions
Molten Color: Glassmaking in Antiquity (Malibu, 2005–2006; 2007; 2009–2010)
Pompeii and the Roman Villa: Art and Culture around the Bay of Naples (Los Angeles, 2009)
Gläser der Antike: Sammlung Erwin Oppenländer (Hamburg and Cologne, 1974–1975)