308. Cinerary Urn

Condition

Mended, with some fills, and iridescence in different areas. No lid.

Description

Wide, in-folded rim, flaring to form a conical mouth; short, rudimentary neck; globular body; conical, pushed-in base; flat, slightly concave bottom. No pontil mark visible on bottom, as is normal for these vessels. Massive, M-shaped handles have been applied at the shoulders, beginning from the left and ending at the right.

Comments and Comparanda

Lidded, large-sized glass vessels with wide neck, usually with two heavy, M-, U-, or Omega-shaped handles but occasionally handleless or single-handled, were used as cinerary urns in Roman times, during the late first and throughout the second centuries CE. The ashes of cremated Romans were placed in them, and usually they were placed in a marble or lead case to avoid fracture and the consequent spilling of the human remains. These glass receptacles were mostly unearthed in the western Roman provinces, where the custom of cremation was prevalent, or at eastern Mediterranean sites with direct connections to the west. See Isings 1957, pp. 81–83, form 63; Goethert-Polaschek 1977, pp. 244–246, form 150, plate 11; Zampieri 1998, p. 187, no. 310; Wiseman 1969, plate 31.1; Cool and Price 1995, pp. 88–92; Weinberg and McClellan 1992, pp. 121–122, no. 91; Arveiller-Dulong and Nenna 2005, pp. 167–179, nos. 469–515; Whitehouse 1997a, pp. 172–174, nos. 302–305.

Provenance

1980, Richard C. Swingler, American, 1918–1993, donated to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 1980

Bibliography

Lees-Causey 1983, p. 153, fig. 1.

Wight 2011, pp. 104, 125, fig. 96.

Exhibitions

Pompeii and the Roman Villa: Art and Culture around the Bay of Naples (Los Angeles, 2009)