Frontinus Jug
Frontinus Jug
Place of OriginAncient Rome, France, Amiens (1890)
Date3rd century CE
DimensionsH: 6 7/8 in. (17.5 cm); Max Diam: 3 1/4 in. (8.2 cm)
MediumMold-blown, transparent green glass.
ClassificationGlass
Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number
1948.221
Not on View
DescriptionMedium thin glass. A few pinprick and small spherical bubbles; a few large bubbles in body.
Transparent natural grayish green (5 G 5/2).
Body blown into a three-part patterned mold with two vertical sections joined to base portion. Mold seams from base of neck to edge of base, carefully aligned. Relief on base very shallow but distinct. Neck and rim free-blown. Irregular wad on base ca. 2.0 cm. Excess glass at tip of handle folded up against rim and down.
Narrow rim, folded outward, upward, inward, and flattened. Tall cylindrical neck with slightly concave sides and tool mark at its base. Horizontal shoulder. Barrel-shaped body. Concave base. Strap handle with three ribs from shoulder to rim. Handle positioned ca. 1.8 cm to left of the seam.
Body shaped like a wooden barrel standing upright with six hoops at top and bottom. Mold-blown Latin inscription on underside of base: FRONTINIANA (retrograde).
Published ReferencesLabino, Dominick, Visual Art in Glass, Dubuque, IA, 1968, p. 29, repr. fig. 18.
Riefstahl, Rudolph, "The Complexities of Ancient Glass," Apollo, vol. 86, no. 70, Dec. 1967, p. 433, repr. fig. 15.
Late 3rd century CE
about 3rd century CE
Late fourth to mid-fifth century
Fourth century CE
Probably 19th or early 20th century
Probably second half of the first century
3rd-4th century CE
Probably early 20th century (before 1913)
about 578-636 or 638
Probably fourth century
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