Hexagonal Jug with Dionysiac Symbols

Image Not Available

Hexagonal Jug with Dionysiac Symbols

Place of OriginSyria or Palestine, perhaps made in Sidon or Galilee

DateProbably second quarter of the 1st century

DimensionsH: 3 7/16 in. (8.8 cm); Rim Diam: 1 1/16 in. (2.7 cm); Diam: 2 1/16 in. (5.3 cm); Base Diam: 1 1/8 in. (2.9 cm)

MediumGlass; mold blown and tooled.

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.486

Not on View

DescriptionThis hexagonal jug is made of translucent streaked manganese-colored glass with a pale green handle. The medium thin glass has weathered, obscuring the fabric. The neck was free blown, while the body and lower neck were blown into a multipart mold composed of two or three vertical sections joined to a cup-shaped base section that includes the ribbed area around the bottom (MCT I or MCT V C). Mold seams are concealed within the decoration, and the tip of the handle was drawn out thin and folded back. The rim is folded outward, upward, and inward. A cylindrical neck connects to a convex shoulder and convex bottom, forming a hexagonal body. The flat base features two raised concentric circles surrounding a central knob. A bifurcated handle, attached to the shoulder and rim with a projecting thumbrest, is positioned above panel 1. The decoration mirrors that of TMA object 1923.485 (Cat. No. 73), with six rectangular panels containing Dionysiac motifs such as amphorae, a phiale, and thyrsoi, flanked by friezes of vertical ribs at the shoulder and base.

Published ReferencesHayes, John W., Roman and Pre-Roman Glass in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, 1975, no. 89 (a close parallel dated to "late 1st century A.D.").

Stern, E. Marianne, Roman Mold-blown Glass: The First through Sixth Centuries, Rome, "L'Erma" di Bretschneider, 1995, p. 166, no. 74.

Exhibition HistoryCedar Rapids Museum of Art, Art in Roman Life: Villa to Grave, September 2003-August 2005 (no catalog).