Hexagonal Jug with Dionysiac Symbols

Expand

IIIFView PDF

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

DescriptionThis jug is made from translucent to transparent pale olive (10 Y 6/2) glass, including a similarly colored handle. The medium thin fabric cannot be assessed due to weathering. The neck was free blown, while the body and lower part of the neck were formed in a multipart mold of two or three vertical sections joined to a cup-shaped base section that included both the base and a fluted area around the bottom (MCT I or MCT V). Mold seams are obscured by the decoration. The tip of the handle was drawn out thin and folded back. The rim is folded outward, upward, and inward. A horizontal tool mark circles the interior of the neck about 0.9 cm above its base, likely from opening the neck after removal from the mold. The cylindrical neck has a ridge about 0.8 cm above the base marking the upper edge of the mold. The convex shoulder and convex bottom are connected by a hexagonal body. The flat base features three raised concentric circles. A trifurcated handle, applied at the shoulder and attached to the rim with a projecting thumbrest, is placed above panel 1. The jug is decorated with a frieze of about twenty-one downturned tongues on the shoulder. Six rectangular panels on the body each contain a Dionysiac symbol: crossed double-ended thyrsoi; a footed jug with a spout to the left and high handle to the right; a footed amphora with high handles; a syrinx (pan pipes) with four reeds of varying lengths bound together; a circular phiale; and a footed krater with high handles. A frieze of twenty-four upturned tongues encircles the base.

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