Squat Bulbous Jug
Squat Bulbous Jug
Artist
Unidentified
Period
Roman Empire
(Ancient Roman, 27 BCE-395 CE)
Period
Byzantine Empire
(Byzantine, 395 CE-1453 CE)
Place of OriginRoman or Byzantine Eastern Mediterranean, possibly Asia Minor
Datemid 4th-early 5th century CE
Dimensions3 5/16 × 1 7/8 × 1 13/16 in. (8.4 × 4.8 × 4.6 cm)
Mediumglass
ClassificationGlass
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number
1908.74
Not on View
DescriptionThis squat bulbous jug is made of medium thin, transparent natural pale green glass (5 G 7/2), with similarly colored translucent thread and handle. An olive green streak runs through the handle. The surface shows numerous pinprick bubbles, along with black specks and sandy impurities throughout the vessel and concentrated in the handle.
The vessel was free-blown and tooled. It has a pontil mark about 1.1 cm in diameter. The flaring circular mouth has a rim that was rounded in the flame. A tall cylindrical neck curves smoothly into the shoulder. The squat body is dome-shaped with slightly convex walls. The concave base has a tooled kick. An angular coil handle was applied to the shoulder and attached to the rim, pressed downward to form a closed loop beneath the mouth. Twelve spiraled thread revolutions run from left to right around the mouth and neck, beginning just below the rim.
The small application point of the handle suggests it may have been added using a heated rod rather than drawn from a coil. Although this jug is closely related to Palestinian examples (e.g., acc. 23.1002), it was probably produced in an unidentified glassworking center in central Asia Minor. A similar jug was excavated in Cappadocia alongside a tubular jar resembling acc. 08.0045 and 23.0667.
Published ReferencesRiefstahl, Rudolph M., "Ancient and Near Eastern Glass," Toledo Museum News, Spring, 1961, New Series, vol. 4, no. 2, p. 41 ill.
Labino, Dominick, Visual Art in Glass, Dubuque, IA, 1968, p. 24; fig. 12.
The Toledo Museum of Art, Art in Glass: A Guide to the Glass Collections, Toledo, Ohio, 1969, p. 31 ill.
Fourth century CE
3rd-4th Century
Fifth to seventh centuries
Probably fourth century
Probably fifth to early sixth century
Probably second half of fourth to early fifth century
Probably end of third to mid-fourth century
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