545. Head Pendant

Condition

Broken; only half of the face is preserved. The condition of the surface of the preserved part is good, with very few nicks or scratches. A pinching mark is visible at the end of the chin.

Description

Turquoise, cylindrical, rod-formed pendant rendering a bearded male head. The turquoise base mass includes the hair and the elongated beard. This core was partly covered with yellow glass to represent the skin of the face, as was an elongated, pinched, yellow lump rendering the ear. An earring hanging from the preserved ear lobe is made of white glass. The eye was made of three overlapping disks of dark blue, white, and lighter blue glass of gradually smaller diameters so that they are all visible. Lips consist of a disk of white glass pressed in the middle to form the mouth. Translucent dark blue glass is curled around the forehead, forming relief locks, and a dark blue horizontal band forms the eyebrow.

Remains of dark red sandy coating adhere to interior of tiny rod hole.

Comments and Comparanda

On Punic glass pendants in general, see comments on cat. 544. Male heads represent the largest group among Punic head pendants. 2003.208 belongs to a subgroup of male heads with curly hair and sleek beard (Seefried 1982, pp. 27–28, 100–103, plate II, type C.I), which are dated between the middle of the fifth and into the fourth century BCE.

Provenance

By 1974–1988, Erwin Oppenländer, 1901–1988 (Waiblingen, Germany), by inheritance to his son, Gert Oppenländer, 1988; 1988–2003, Gert Oppenländer (Wailblingen, Germany), sold to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 2003

Bibliography

von Saldern et al. 1974, p. 83, no. 229; p. 82, plate no. 229.

Seefried 1982, p. 101, no. 13.

Exhibitions

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