Condition
Intact. Iridescence and white layer of weathering.
Description
In-folded rim; conical mouth; cylindrical neck wider toward the body; squat globular body; flat bottom, standing on an applied base-ring. At the center of the bottom, an annular pontil mark (W. 2.2, Th. 0.1 cm) is visible. A thick trail of glass is wound around, forming a ring at the middle of the neck. A pair of coil handles are applied on the shoulders and stretch to mid-neck height, where they bend and attach to the neck and the decorative trail. The surplus of the coil is folded over the upper surface of the handle.
Comments and Comparanda
Small glass amphorae rendering in miniature the shape of large clay amphorae were quite popular, used as tableware for serving wine. This vessel belongs to a distinctive group of Syro-Palestinian glass table amphorae, appearing in four different types, which have been dated mainly to the fourth and fifth centuries CE (Stern, Eva Marianne. 1977. Ancient Glass at the Fondation Custodia (Collection Frits Lugt) Paris. Archaeologia Traiectina 12. Groningen: Wolfers-Noordhoff., pp. 84–85). This particular vessel, due to its funnel mouth and tubular neck without a constriction at its base, is ascribed to type I, which is dated between the mid-third and mid-fourth centuries CE. Among the vessels of this group the shape of the body varies greatly. On the basis of its free-blown, squat spherical body, the presence of a base, and the presence of a decorative coil halfway down the neck, this example is ascribed to type IB3a (Stern, Eva Marianne. 1977. Ancient Glass at the Fondation Custodia (Collection Frits Lugt) Paris. Archaeologia Traiectina 12. Groningen: Wolfers-Noordhoff., pp. 84–85, fig. 2; Dusenbery, Εlsbeth. 1971. “Ancient Glass in the Collections of Wheaton College.” Journal of Glass Studies 13: 9–33., p. 24, fig. 39; La Baume, Peter. 1973. Glas der antiken Welt I: Köln, Römisch-Germanisches Museum der Stadt und archäologische Gesellschaft. Wissenschaftliche Kataloge des Römisch-Germanischen Museums 1. Cologne: Römisch-Germanisches Museum der Stadt und Archäologische Gesellschaft., D94, plate 38:4). Quite similar but with conical base are the following parallels: Platz-Horster, Gertrud. 1976. Antike Gläser: Ausstellung, November 1976–Februar 1977, Antikenmuseum Berlin, Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz. Berlin: Antikenmuseum Berlin., p. 60, no. 110; Stern, Eva Marianne. 1977. Ancient Glass at the Fondation Custodia (Collection Frits Lugt) Paris. Archaeologia Traiectina 12. Groningen: Wolfers-Noordhoff., pp. 84–85, type IB2a, fig. 2; Israeli, Yael. 2003. Ancient Glass in the Israel Museum: The Eliahu Dobkin Collection and Other Gifts. Jerusalem: Israel Museum., p. 262, no. 343; Antonaras, Anastassios. 2012. Fire and Sand: Ancient Glass in the Princeton University Art Museum. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press., p. 142, no. 196.
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. 227, no. 665.
Exhibitions
Molten Color: Glassmaking in Antiquity (Malibu, 2005–2006; 2007; 2009–2010)
Gläser der Antike: Sammlung Erwin Oppenländer (Hamburg and Cologne, 1974–1975)