310. Handled Bowl / Jar

Condition

Intact; white iridescence in some areas.

Description

Out-folded and flattened rim; calyx-shaped body; concave bottom. Stands on an applied conical base with slanting tooling marks on it. No pontil mark visible on the bottom. The body is made of amber-colored glass, and on its lower part some darker, probably purplish, striations are visible. A high coil handle, dark green with a few opaque red striations, is applied on the rim and rises, forming a trapezoidal arch. On one end, a curly ending of the coil is left on the rim.

Comments and Comparanda

This is a rare type of bowl, with a tall, vertical handle that gives it an overall shape similar to a bucket. A similar vessel, standing on three toes and not on a conical base, is in the Louvre, acquired in Syria and dated to the third century CE (Arveiller-Dulong and Nenna 2005, p. 376, no. 998). In addition, cylindrical, bucket-shaped vessels standing on their bottom are known from the Syro-Palestinian region: two from Hammat Gader (Cohen 1997, p. 411, plate IV:1–2); possibly also another in Jalame (Weinberg 1988, p. 82, no. 369, fig. 4-42); one in the Israel Museum (Israeli 2003, p. 291, no. 385); and another appeared in an auction in New York (Fortuna 2002, no. 123).

Provenance

Pierre Mavrogordato, Greek, 1870–1948 (Berlin, Germany); 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

von Saldern et al. 1974, p. 211, no. 600.

Exhibitions

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

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