Condition
Intact; areas covered with off-white/beige weathering.
Description
Flaring rim; short, conical mouth that leads directly to the ovular body. A thick coil is wound once around the lower end of the mouth at the transition to the body. The vessel stands on a flat bottom, where an annular pontil mark (W. 2.5 cm, Th. 0.1 cm) is visible. A strap handle was applied on the body and drawn up to the base of the mouth, covering the decorative coil there.
Body, handle, and the decorative coil are made of amber-colored glass with few pinprick bubbles in it. In addition, the vessel is covered with applied decoration. One white and one opaque red-brick thread are wound nine times around the vessel, from the center of the bottom to the end of the rim. The threads are combed on body and neck, forming festoons.
Comments and Comparanda
The same decoration of a fine red trail dragged to form festoons appears on vessels from the Syro-Palestinian region from the fourth up to the eighth century CE; see comments on cat. 348. The dark translucent color and the thick walls of the body connect it with jars dated to the seventh–eighth centuries (e.g., Whitehouse, David B. 2014. Islamic Glass in the Corning Museum of Glass, vol. 2. Corning, NY: Corning Museum of Glass., pp. 194, nos. 940–941). For other parallels, see Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1930. The H. O. Havemeyer Collection: A Catalogue of the Temporary Exhibition, March 10–November 2. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art., p. 111 (not illustrated), a jar (29.100.89.) dated to the fifth century CE or later: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/253001; Platz-Horster, Gertrud. 1976. Antike Gläser: Ausstellung, November 1976–Februar 1977, Antikenmuseum Berlin, Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz. Berlin: Antikenmuseum Berlin., pp. 92–93, nos. 183–186, flasks in different shapes and an amphoriskos dated to the fourth–fifth or seventh–eighth centuries CE; Oliver, Andrew, Jr. 1980. Ancient Glass in the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh. Pittsbourgh, PA: Carnegie Institute., p. 139, no. 240, globular jar dated to the seventh–eighth centuries CE; Whitehouse, David B. 2001. Roman Glass in the Corning Museum of Glass, vol. 2. Corning, NY: Corning Museum of Glass., pp. 212–213, nos. 777–778, a bottle dated to the fourth–fifth centuries CE, and a jar dated to the fifth century CE, or later; Carboni, Stefano, and David Whitehouse, eds. 2001. Glass of the Sultans, exh. cat. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art., pp. 136–137, no. 53, a cylindrical bottle ascribed to Egypt or Syria; the same in Carboni, Stefano. 2001. Glass from Islamic Lands: The Al-Sabah Collection. London: Thames & Hudson., pp. 296–297, no. 75a, dated to the eighth, possibly early ninth century CE.
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. 138, no. 386.
Exhibitions
Gläser der Antike: Sammlung Erwin Oppenländer (Hamburg and Cologne, 1974–1975)