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Catalogue

304. Jug

Accession Number 2003.452
Dimensions H. 9.0, Diam. rim 3.0, Diam. base 4.0 cm; Wt. 45.06 g
Date Sixth–seventh centuries CE
Production Area Eastern Mediterranean, probably Syria
Material Translucent bluish and turquoise glass
Modeling Technique and Decoration Free-blown; applied elements
View in Collection

Condition

Intact. Whitish weathering on the interior.

Description

Fire-polished, flaring rim; long, conical neck; globular body; slightly concave bottom. On the bottom, a faint scar of a solid pontil (W. approx. 0.9 cm) is visible. Coil handle applied on the shoulder, stretched to the rim, where it is folded twice, forming a thumb rest extending beyond the rim. Decorated with applied, undulating trails: one trail horizontal on the shoulder, and three vertical trails arranged at equal distances around the body from the bottom to the shoulder.

Comments and Comparanda

The use of turquoise blue coil in the decoration of bowls and various forms of flasks and jugs is typical for the Syrian region in the sixth–seventh centuries CE (, pp. 155–168; , pp. 259–268, and particularly on jugs pp. 266–267).

No handled parallels have been located. The closest parallel is a bottle in the Metropolitan Museum of Art made of the same glass and bearing the same decoration; in color and shape it is dated to the seventh–eighth centuries CE (x.21.178: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/442864).

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

, p. 249, no. 723.

Exhibitions

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

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