441. Jar with Three Handles

Condition

Intact; small patches of white weathering.

Description

In-folded, flaring rim. The lip was in-folded for 1.4 cm and then it was flattened only in the interior, leaving the exterior walls convex. The neck is extremely short and wide; the body is ovular and stands on an applied conical base. At the center of the bottom there is a circular excess of colorless glass, remainder of a solid pontil (W. 1 cm) that was used for holding the vessel during the shaping of the rim and the attachment of the handles. There are three coil handles attached on the shoulder and stretched up ending on the tip of the rim, forming an almost circular loop.

Comments and Comparanda

This jar may be modern, as indicated by the abundance of air bubbles in its mass, as well as the shape and curvature of the handles. The handles are not cut, as a modern glassblower would have done. Instead, the end of the coil is stretched and bent onto the body of the handle as one would expect, consistent with ancient technique. The extremely elongated fold of glass in the interior of the rim is unprecedented among ancient vessels. The truly colorless glass of the solid pontil scar appears modern. If it was indeed ancient, this quality of glass would have been very rare and expensive, unlikely to be “wasted” on the tip of the pontil for the production of such an average vessel.

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

von Saldern et al. 1974, p. 211, no. 602.

Exhibitions

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