Hexagonal Jug with Dionysiac Symbols

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Hexagonal Jug with Dionysiac Symbols

Place of OriginAncient Rome, Syria or Palestine, Sidon or Galilee

DateProbably second quarter of the first century

DimensionsH: 3 7/8 in. (9.8 cm); Rim Diam: 1 3/16 in. (3 cm); Diam: 2 in. (5.1 cm); Base Diam: 1 1/4 in. (3.1 cm)

MediumGlass; mold blown and tooled.

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.484

Not on View

DescriptionTranslucent to transparent pale olive (10 Y 6/2). Similarly colored handle. Medium thin glass. Fabric cannot be determined because of weathering. Neck free blown. Body and lower part of neck blown into a multipart mold of three or two vertical sections joined to a cup-shaped base section which included the base and the fluted area around the bottom (MCT I or MCT V, see Remarks). Mold seams concealed within the decoration. Tip of handle drawn out thin and folded back. Rim folded outward, upward, and inward; horizontal tool mark around interior of neck, 0.9 cm above base of neck, probably from opening up neck after extraction from the mold. Cylindrical neck; the ridge ca. 0.8 cm above its base marks the upper edge of the mold. Convex shoulder and convex bottom joined by a hexagonal body. Flat base with three raised concentric circles on the underside. Trifurcated handle applied to shoulder and attached to rim with projecting thumbrest above. Handle positioned above panel 1. On the shoulder, a frieze of about twenty-one downturned tongues in raised outline. On the body, six rectangular panels, each containing a Dionysiac symbol. In the panels, from left to right: 1, crossed double-ended thyrsoi; 2, a footed jug with a spout to the left and a high handle to the right; 3, a footed amphora with high handles; 4, a suspended syrinx (pan pipes) with four reeds of increasing lengths and a thick crossbinding; 5, a circular object with smooth surface (probably a phiale); 6, a footed crater with high handles. Around the bottom, a frieze of twenty-four upturned tongues in raised outline. Translucent to transparent pale olive (10 Y 6/2). Similarly colored handle. Neck free blown. Body and lower part of neck blown into a multipart mold of three or two vertical sections joined to a cup-shaped base section which included the base and the fluted area around the bottom (MCT I or MCT V, see Remarks). Mold seams concealed within the decoration. Tip of handle drawn out thin and folded back. Rim folded outward, upward, and inward; horizontal tool mark around interior of neck, 0.9 cm above base of neck, probably from opening up neck after extraction from the mold. Cylindrical neck; the ridge ca. 0.8 cm above its base marks the upper edge of the mold. Convex shoulder and convex bottom joined by a hexagonal body. Flat base with three raised concentric circles on the underside. Trifurcated handle applied to shoulder and attached to rim with projecting thumbrest above. Handle positioned above panel 1. On the shoulder, a frieze of about twenty-one downturned tongues in raised outline. On the body, six rectangular panels, each containing a Dionysiac symbol. In the panels, from left to right: 1, crossed double-ended thyrsoi; 2, a footed jug with a spout to the left and a high handle to the right; 3, a footed amphora with high handles; 4, a suspended syrinx (pan pipes) with four reeds of increasing lengths and a thick crossbinding; 5, a circular object with smooth surface (probably a phiale); 6, a footed crater with high handles. Around the bottom, a frieze of twenty-four upturned tongues in raised outline.

Published ReferencesStern, E. Marianne, Roman Mold-blown Glass: The First through Sixth Centuries, Rome, "L'Erma" di Bretschneider, 1995, p. 160-164, no. 71.