Condition
Upper part chipped off below and along sides. Rough surface; weathered and iridescent.
Description
Ellipsoidal double-head pendant.
Side A: The face of a young female figure with the following characteristics: oval face framed by a rich hairstyle, falling in curls to the neck; a beaded band over her forehead; arched eyebrows, large eyes, wide nose, and small mouth. At the center of the lower, straight side of the bust, a vertical pole is visible, indicating that a standing structure supported the bust of the figure.
Side B: Oval face, wider than face on side A, framed by a rich hairstyle, falling in curls to the neck; eyebrows are not discernible and the eyes are normal size; full cheeks, wide nose, and small mouth. Remains of an ornate band over the forehead visible. At the center of the lower, straight side of the bust, a vertical pole is visible, indicating that a standing structure supported the bust of the figure. A small part of an added band of glass is visible on the top of the head on this side, probably the remains of a loop.
On the bottom of the pendant is a cylindrical opening (W. 0.4, D. 1.2 cm).
Comments and Comparanda
Double-faced pendants with female bust are a well-known and studied group of glass artifacts (Haevernick, Thea Elisabeth. [1968] 1981. “Doppelköpfchen.” In Beiträge zur Glasforschung: Die wichtigsten Aufsätze von 1938 bis 1981, ed. Axel von Saldern, 188–197. Mainz: von Zabern. [Originally published in Festschrift Gottfried von Lücken, Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Universität Rostock 17: 647–653.], pp. 192–197; Spaer, Maud. 2001. Ancient Glass in the Israel Museum: Beads and Other Small Objects. Jerusalem: Israel Museum., pp. 160–161, 167, nos. 321–322). They were used as the head of long metal hairpins. The pendant was formed by picking up and rolling a small mass of glass around the end of a metal rod; it then was pressed in a two-part mold. Quite usually a lot of excess glass escaped along the seams, as in our example (see also Spaer, Maud. 2001. Ancient Glass in the Israel Museum: Beads and Other Small Objects. Jerusalem: Israel Museum., p. 161). The opening formed when the rod was removed is where the shaft of the hairpin was secured. The female figure with long curly hair represented on these pendants has been identified with the chief Punic goddess, Tanit (Haevernick, Thea Elisabeth. [1968] 1981. “Doppelköpfchen.” In Beiträge zur Glasforschung: Die wichtigsten Aufsätze von 1938 bis 1981, ed. Axel von Saldern, 188–197. Mainz: von Zabern. [Originally published in Festschrift Gottfried von Lücken, Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Universität Rostock 17: 647–653.], pp. 188–197; Adam-Veleni, Polyxeni, and Despoina Ignatiadou, eds. 2010. Gyalinos kosmos / Glass Cosmos. Thessaloniki: Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki., p. 405, no. 495; Arveiller-Dulong, Véronique, and Marie-Dominique Nenna. 2011. Les verres antiques du Musée du Louvre 3: Parure, instruments et éléments d’incrustation. Paris: Somogy Editions., pp. 302–304, nos. 481–486, esp. 484). Most of these pendants are found in the Punic region of the western Mediterranean. It is suspected that they were produced in a Punic center, possibly even Carthage itself. They are connected to the rod-formed head pendants (cats. 544–549).
On the pendants with male faces and their iconography, see comments on cat. 552.
Provenance
By 1974–1988, Erwin Oppenländer, 1901–1988 (Waiblingen, Germany), by inheritance to his daughter, Ingrid Reisser, 1988; 1988–2004, Ingrid Reisser (Böblingen, Germany), sold to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 2004
Bibliography
Saldern von, Axel, Birgit Nolte, Peter La Baume, and Thea Elisabeth Haevernick. 1974. Gläser der Antike. Sammlung Erwin Oppenländer. Mainz: von Zabern., p. 83, no. 231.
Exhibitions
Gläser der Antike: Sammlung Erwin Oppenländer (Hamburg and Cologne, 1974–1975)