Spherical Jar

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Spherical Jar

Place of OriginRome, probably Palestine

DateFourth century

DimensionsH: 3 1/4 in. (8.2 cm); Rim Diam: 2 3/8 in. (6.1 cm); Diam (body): 3 1/4 in. (8.3 cm)

MediumGlass; free blown, tooled, applied decoration

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.1036

Not on View

DescriptionMedium thin glass. A few pinprick and small bubbles elongated horizontally in rim. Sandy impurities. Blowing spirals. Yellow body; natural light green decoration; offset rim; constricted neck; spherical body, decorated with two applied threads in chain pattern. Transparent light olive brown (5 Y 5/6). Translucent to transparent light olive thread and pontil wad (10 Y 5/4). Free-blown. Pontil mark ca. 1.15 cm. Tooled. Added thread. Collar rim, rounded in flame with open cut-out. Short, deeply concave neck. Concave shoulder. Spherical body. Concave base. On lower body, two wavy applied threads pinched together at intervals to form a horizontal chain pattern on side of body; the links are large and regular where the chain pattern begins, small and irregular on opposite side. CLASSIFICATION Jar Class IA2a See also Cat. Nos.: EXHIBITIONS PUBLISHED REMARKS No parallel from a controlled excavation known. This jar is a variation of Class IA2 decorated with pinched thread. An early occurrence of the chain motif in the Eastern Mediterranean is on deep bowls excavated at Dura Europos , where they antedate 256, the year in which the city was captured by the Sasanians. +++