Hexagonal Jug with Jewish Symbols

Place of OriginPalestine, probably around Jerusalem

Dateabout 578-629

DimensionsH: 5 1/4 in. (13.35 cm); Diam (rim): 2 5/8 in. (6.6 cm); Diam (body): 3 1/16 in. (7.8 cm); W Base: 2 13/16 in. (7.1-6.3 cm)

MediumMold blown; tooled; applied handle

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.1363

Not on View

DescriptionTransparent to translucent brownish yellow. Similarly colored handle. Medium thin glass. Fabric cannot be determined because of weathering. Mouth and neck free blown. Body blown into a mold with designs in low relief on the interior. Mold seams cannot be detected. Relief indistinct. Pontil mark 1.4 cm in diameter. Excess glass at tip of handle drawn out thin and pressed flat against top of handle. Spouted mouth, with rim folded outward, upward, inward, and downward. Tubular neck, with constriction at its base. Shoulder slightly sloped. Hexagonal body. Concave base. Hollow tubular handle applied to shoulder above upper left corner of panel 1 and attached to edge of rim, with horizontal thumbrest ca. 2.5 cm from rim. Decoration like 1923.1359. CLASSIFICATION: Barag B II 3. Transparent to translucent brownish yellow. Similarly colored handle.

Published ReferencesGoodenough, Erwin R., Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period, (Bollingen Series 37, New York, 1953), I: The Archaeological Evidence from Palestine, p. 170; III: Illustrations, figs. 394-399.

Barag, Dan P., "Glass Pilgrim Vessels from Jerusalem, Pts. I," Journal of Glass Studies 12 (1970), p. 56 (B II 3), 60, fig. 16.

Stern, E. Marianne, Roman Mold-blown Glass: the First through Sixth Centuries, "L'Erma" di Bretschneider in Association with the Toledo Museum of Art, Rome, Italy, 1995, no. 172, p. 256.