Pilgrim Jar with Jewish Symbols

Place of OriginPalestine, probably Jerusalem

Dateabout 578-629

Dimensions3 1/4 × 2 3/8 × 3 in. (8.3 × 6 × 7.6 cm)

Mediumglass

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.1358

Not on View

DescriptionThis hexagonal pilgrim jar is made of transparent to translucent dark brownish-orange glass. The true fabric cannot be determined because of its dark color. The neck and mouth were free-blown, while the body was blown into a mold with designs in low relief on the interior. The mold seams cannot be detected, and the relief remains crisp. A ring pontil mark about 1.5 cm in diameter is visible on the base. The jar has a funnel-shaped mouth with a partly hollow rim folded outward, upward, inward, and downward to the narrowest point of the opening. It has a short, horizontal shoulder and a hexagonal body that rests on a flat base. Each of the six rectangular panels on the body is decorated in intaglio and bordered by recessed dots. From left to right, the panels show: (1) a menorah with flames on a three-legged stand; (2) an X-shaped element with stylized heart-shaped leaves at the ends and loops at the cross bar; (3) two concentric lozenges with recessed dots at each corner; (4) two concentric lozenges with a crescent in each corner; (5) an empty aedicula with columns and an arch; and (6) a stylized palm tree. The underside of the base is undecorated. This vessel is classified as Barag B V 1.

Published ReferencesReifenberg, A., Ancient Hebrew Arts, New York, 1950, repr 53.

Goodenough, Erwin R., Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period I: The Archaeological Evidence from Palestine, New York, 1953, p. 171; III, figs. 420-425.

Roth, Cecil, ed., Jewish Art: An Illustrated History, New York, 1961, repr. p. 243.

Barag, Dan P., "Glass Pilgrim Vessels from Jerusalem, Pts. I," Journal of Glass Studies, 12, 1970, p. 56 (B V 1), 60, fig. 19.

Renov, Israel, Preliminary Report on the Iconography of Jewish Glass Vessels (Readings in Glass History 4, Jerusalem 1974) p. 19, 21.

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, cat. no. 173, pp. 256-257, color pl. 28, p. 63.