Bulbous Jar with Zigzag Neck Coil

Place of OriginRoman Empire, Palestine

Date4th century

DimensionsH: 2 3/4 in. (6.9 cm); Rim Diam: 3 in. (7.7 cm); Body Diam: 3 1/16 in. (7.8 cm)

MediumGlass; free blown and tooled, decoration hot-tooled on.

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.1020

Not on View

DescriptionThis vessel is a bulbous jar with zigzag neck coil, classified as Jar Class IB2a (cf. Barag 1970a, II pl. 34 type 6.10). It is made of medium thin glass with visible blowing spirals; the fabric cannot be determined because of weathering. The glass is transparent natural grayish yellow green (5 GY 7/2) with a translucent zigzag coil of a similar hue. It is free-blown and tooled, with hot-tooled decoration. The pontil mark measures approximately 1.5 cm in diameter. An added coil and thread are present, with the excess glass at the end of the zigzag drawn out thin and wound over the coil. The vessel has a collapsed collar rim, rounded in flame, with an open cutout below. The neck is jacked, leading to a concave shoulder. The squat bulbous body has its greatest diameter at the midpoint. The base is concave with a slight kick. A freestanding zigzag coil is applied to the shoulder and attached to the rim, trailed from left to right with fourteen segments between shoulder and rim, then continued with two and a half revolutions of straight thread along the top of the rim and over the center of the zigzag.

Published ReferencesPuma, Richard Daniel de, Art In Roman Life: Villa to Grave, Rome, L'erma di Bretschneider, 2009, p. 130, no. 175.Exhibition HistoryCedar Rapids Museum of Art, Art in Roman Life: Villa to Grave, September 2003-August 2005 (no catalog).

The Dayton Art Institute, The Roman World: Religions and Everyday Life (featuring the Brooklyn Museum exhibition: Tree of Paradise: Jewish Mosaics from the Roman Empire), September 21, 2007-January 6, 2008 (no catalog).