552. Double-Faced Pendant

Condition

Nearly complete. Surface smooth. Incrustation remains; small chips. No bubbles or iridescence.

Description

Ellipsoidal, double-faced pendant, with similar relief representations of bearded male heads en face on both sides. On the lower part, a cylindrical opening (D. approx. 2 mm). Glass overflow from the mold, mainly on the upper part.

Side A: Bearded male figure with hairstyle comprising elongated curls that frame his forehead and temples. Arched eyebrows; large eyes; pronounced cheekbones and nose; recessed areas around the eyes and the small mouth.

Side B: Bearded male figure with hairstyle comprising spherical curls that frame his forehead and temples. Arched eyebrows; large eyes; pronounced cheekbones and nose; pronounced, downturned mustache; small mouth.

Comments and Comparanda

The bearded male figures depicted on the two sides have similar features in general but differ in individual details, such as the mustache and hairstyle. The round locks on the forehead of the face on side B can be identified as an ivy wreath and thus we may recognize in the figure Papposilenos (Ignatiadou 2021, pp. 102–103, Papposilenus-type A). Papposilenos is a mythical figure, a follower of the god Dionysus and the elderly father of the Silenoi. He is always shown bearded, usually wearing an ivy wreath, and with porcupine ears, which are not discernible on the glass examples (LIMC VII.1, s.v. “silenos,” p. 762).

Double-faced pendants with male or female busts are a well-known and studied group of glass artifacts (Haevernick [1968] 1981, pp. 188–197; Spaer 2001, pp. 160–161, 168, nos. 323–324). Most of them were used as the head of long metal hairpins, occasionally supplemented with a suspension ring and used as pendants. The pendant was formed by picking up and rolling a small mass of glass around the end of a metal rod, then it was pressed in a two-part mold; usually a lot of excess glass escapes from the seams, just like in our example (Spaer 2001, p. 161). The opening formed when the rod was removed is where the shaft of the hairpin was secured; in some cases a suspension ring was set there instead, converting it into a hanging pendant (Trakosopoulou 2002, p. 84, fig. 10, from a fourth-century BCE grave from Akanthos; Mandruzzato et al. 2008, p. 38, cat. no. 134, from Aquileia). The breakage on the upper part makes it impossible to determine if this piece had a suspension ring.

Pendants with male faces have long been connected in archaeological studies with Punic civilization, and medallions representing a female head with long curly hair are oftentimes identified with the chief Punic goddess, Tanit (Haevernick [1968] 1981, pp. 188–197; Seefried 1982, pp. 61–62). A new, and convincing, approach has connected the male faces with the Aegean region and even probably with early fourth-century BCE northern Greece. Their iconography has been connected with purely Greek artworks, reflecting aspects of Greek mythology. Namely, in the different types of faces have been recognized Zeus, Dionysus, Hades, and Papposilenos (Ignatiadou 2021, pp. 95–117, with detailed bibliography). Most of these pendants are made of dark blue glass, with only very few in natural green or amber-colored glass. They are found in the eastern Mediterranean region and on the coast of the Black Sea.

Provenance

1978, Ira Goldberg; Mark Goldberg and Larry Goldberg (Beverly Hills, California), donated to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 1978

Bibliography

Unpublished

Exhibitions

None