290. Jug

Condition

Reassembled, with a large fill near the handle.

Description

Ground rim; flaring mouth; ovular body, standing on a conical base. At the upper part of the mouth are two fine horizontal incisions, and a relief rib delineates the transition to the body, which bears faceted decoration comprising five rows of wheel-cut, elongated, lozenge-shaped facets, forming a very regular and tight faceted pattern. The top and bottom rows have a rounded upper and lower end, respectively. Below this is a horizontal relief rib. A raised disk (W. 0.7 cm) is at the center of the bottom. A small strap handle was applied on the middle of the body and drawn up to the upper part. The handle has wheel-cut decoration as well, namely, two parallel, vertical strokes along its height, flanked by three perpendicular to it, two on the upper part and one on the lower.

Comments and Comparanda

This jug belongs to a group of possibly molded, probably blown and polished vessels—comprising conical and ovoid beakers, bowls, jars, jugs, and spoons—that are all made of thick decolorized glass (Foy et al. 2019, vol. 1, pp. 13–14). For more on decolorized glass, see cat. 270. The technique of facet-cutting on glass was invented in Italy in the late 60s or early 70s CE, when transparent colorless glass became fashionable due to the fact that facets are best visible on transparent glass and thus the result was much appreciated. Facet-cutting was applied with great success on a wide variety of forms made of decolorized glass (Foy et al. 2019, vol. 1, pp. 343–344). This jug is unique, though it is extremely close to beakers like cat. 256 dated to the late first–early second century CE. All published parallels are found in the western and northern provinces of the Roman Empire (Foy et al. 2019, vol. 1, pp. 26–27, form IN 18). Other vessels quite similar in shape include one found in Begram, Afghanistan (Hamelin 1953, plate VIII, type b), and one from Szombathely, Hungary (Barkóczi 1988, p. 171, no. 402, plate XXXVI, XCIV). Faceted jugs are also known in blue glass (Whitehouse 1997a, pp. 235–236, no. 399; Delacour 1993, pp. 60–62).

Provenance

By 1965–1988, 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 1965, pp. 120–121, no. 4.

von Saldern et al. 1974, p. 184, no. 507.

Wight 2011, pp. 1, 2, fig. 1.

Exhibitions

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

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