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Hexagonal Jug with Dionysiac Symbols

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Hexagonal Jug with Dionysiac Symbols

Place of OriginSyria or Palestine, Sidon or Galilee
DateProbably second quarter of the first century
DimensionsH: 3 3/4 in. (9.5 cm); Rim Diam: 1 1/8 in. (2.8 cm); Diam: 2 1/16 in. (5.3 cm); Base Diam: 1 1/8 in. (2.8 cm)
MediumGlass; mold blown and tooled.
ClassificationGlass
Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number
1923.487
Not on View
DescriptionThis hexagonal jug, classified as mold-blown and tooled glass, is made from translucent to transparent light grayish blue glass with a similarly colored handle. The neck was free blown, while the body and lower neck were blown into a multipart mold of two vertical sections, each incorporating half of the shoulder, joined to a cup-shaped base section that included the fluted area around the bottom (MCT V C). The seams of the mold are hidden within the decoration, and the tip of the handle was drawn out thin. The vessel features a rim folded outward, upward, and inward, a tall cylindrical neck, and a convex shoulder and bottom that form a hexagonal body. The flat base includes two raised concentric circles around a central knob. A bifurcated handle, attached to the shoulder and rim with a projecting thumbrest, is positioned above panel 3. A frieze of twenty-two thick ribs decorates the shoulder and lower neck. Six rectangular panels on the body each contain a Dionysiac symbol: crossed double-ended thyrsoi above a raised knob; a footed jug with a spout and high handle; a footed amphora; a syrinx (pan pipes) with six reeds and two crossbindings; a circular object decorated with concentric rings, probably a phiale; and a footed crater with high handles. Around the base is 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. 164-165, no. 72.

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