Condition
Fully preserved; a small crack is visible on the lip. Some iridescence visible on the exterior and some reddish soil in the interior.
Description
Fire-polished rim; trefoil mouth; cylindrical neck; globular body; concave bottom. An annular pontil mark (1.5 × 1 cm) is visible at the center of the bottom.
A greenish coil is wound under the rim and at mid-neck height. In addition, a turquoise thread is wound five times around the upper body, and below it is a zigzag thread. A coil handle was added on the shoulder and ends on the lip.
Comments and Comparanda
This jug is a characteristic example of Syro-Palestinian glass production in the late fourth century CE. It is very close to the mold-blown jug cat. 186. This group, known as the Blue Zigzag Group, includes several similar vessels—jugs, jars, and spouted flasks—that are made of the same greenish glass and decorated with threads of turquoise glass spirally wound or in zigzags (Stern, Eva Marianne. 1977. Ancient Glass at the Fondation Custodia (Collection Frits Lugt) Paris. Archaeologia Traiectina 12. Groningen: Wolfers-Noordhoff., pp. 120–122). Several examples are published. Jugs with round mouth: Arveiller-Dulong, Véronique, and Marie-Dominique Nenna. 2005. Les verres antiques du Musée du Louvre 2: Vaisselle et contenants du Ier siècle au début du VIIe siècle après J.-C. Paris: Somogy., pp. 358, 381, nos. 1017–1019; Zouhdi, Bachir. 1964. “Les verres mosaïqués et millefiori du Musée National de Damas.” In Annales du 3e Congrès International d’Étude Historique du Verre, Damas, 14–23 novembre 1964, 68–78. Liège: Ed. du Secrétariat général., no. 61; Auth, Susan Handler. 1976. Ancient Glass at the Newark Museum from the Eugene Schaefer Collection of Antiquities. Newark, NJ: Newark Museum., p. 208, no. 387; Israeli, Yael. 2003. Ancient Glass in the Israel Museum: The Eliahu Dobkin Collection and Other Gifts. Jerusalem: Israel Museum., p. 182, no. 215. Jars: Stern, Eva Marianne. 1977. Ancient Glass at the Fondation Custodia (Collection Frits Lugt) Paris. Archaeologia Traiectina 12. Groningen: Wolfers-Noordhoff., pp. 120–122; Auth, Susan Handler. 1976. Ancient Glass at the Newark Museum from the Eugene Schaefer Collection of Antiquities. Newark, NJ: Newark Museum., p. 223, nos. 476, 477; Barag, Dan. 1970. “Glass Vessels of the Roman and Byzantine Periods in Palestine.” PhD diss. [in Hebrew], Hebrew University, Jerusalem., type 6: 11-1, 12-1, 13-1; Stern, Eva Marianne. 2001. Roman, Byzantine, and Early Medieval Glass, 10 BCE–700 CE: Ernesto Wolf Collection. Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz., p. 230, no. 117; Dussart, Odile. 1998. Le verre en Jordanie et en Syrie du sud. Bibliothèque archéologique et historique 152. Beirut: Institut Français d’Archéologie du Proche-Orient., pp. 93–94, forms BVII.261, 2621.2, plate 20; Arveiller-Dulong, Véronique, and Marie-Dominique Nenna. 2005. Les verres antiques du Musée du Louvre 2: Vaisselle et contenants du Ier siècle au début du VIIe siècle après J.-C. Paris: Somogy., pp. 422–423, nos. 1174–1176; Israeli, Yael. 2003. Ancient Glass in the Israel Museum: The Eliahu Dobkin Collection and Other Gifts. Jerusalem: Israel Museum., p. 239, no. 307. Spouted flask: Arveiller-Dulong, Véronique, and Marie-Dominique Nenna. 2005. Les verres antiques du Musée du Louvre 2: Vaisselle et contenants du Ier siècle au début du VIIe siècle après J.-C. Paris: Somogy., p. 381, no. 1016.
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., p. 228, no. 671.
Exhibitions
Gläser der Antike: Sammlung Erwin Oppenländer (Hamburg and Cologne, 1974–1975)