Condition
White incrustation in the interior; very few signs of weathering on the exterior.
Description
Fire-polished, horizontal rim; short and very wide neck; squat globular body; conical, applied, and tooled base. The base is partly irregular, and slanting tooling marks are visible on it. A fine blue thread is wound four times around the neck, starting from the upper shoulder. Thirteen dark blue coil handles are placed around the rim, each starting on the shoulder and ending with a bend on the edge of the rim. Part of a pontil mark is visible on the bottom, off-center.
Comments and Comparanda
In Levantine glass production, the use of bent trails forming zigzags covering the area between the shoulders and the neck of jars is common in the fourth and fifth centuries (Barag, Dan. 1970. “Glass Vessels of the Roman and Byzantine Periods in Palestine.” PhD diss. [in Hebrew], Hebrew University, Jerusalem., vol. 2, plate 34, types VI:9, 10; Antonaras, Anastassios. 2012. Fire and Sand: Ancient Glass in the Princeton University Art Museum. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press., pp. 205–206, nos. 302–304). In the same spirit, contemporaneous jars are adorned with many handles around the neck; these are made of individual lengths of glass, often in a different color from the body. Parallels include the following: Abdul Hak, Sélim. 1965. “Contribution d’une découverte archéologique récente à l’étude de la verrerie syrienne à l’époque romaine.” Journal of Glass Studies 7: 26–34., p. 31, fig. 14; Barag, Dan. 1970. “Glass Vessels of the Roman and Byzantine Periods in Palestine.” PhD diss. [in Hebrew], Hebrew University, Jerusalem., vol. 2, plate 34, type VI:20; Matheson, Susan B. 1980. Ancient Glass in the Yale University Art Gallery. New Haven, CT: Yale University Art Gallery., no. 315; Stern, Eva Marianne. 2001. Roman, Byzantine, and Early Medieval Glass, 10 BCE–700 CE: Ernesto Wolf Collection. Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz., no. 126; 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. 425, no. 1185, plate 107, example without base; 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. 425, no. 1187, plate 107, example with three pinched toes; Antonaras, Anastassios. 2012. Fire and Sand: Ancient Glass in the Princeton University Art Museum. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press., p. 205, no. 301.
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. 212, no. 609.
Wight, Karol. 2011. Molten Color: Glassmaking in Antiquity. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum., pp. 1, 2, fig. 1.
Exhibitions
Molten Color: Glassmaking in Antiquity (Malibu, 2005–2006; 2007; 2009–2010)
Gläser der Antike: Sammlung Erwin Oppenländer (Hamburg and Cologne, 1974–1975)