Octagonal Jar with Jewish Symbols

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Octagonal Jar with Jewish Symbols

Place of OriginRoman Empire, Palestine, near Jerusalem

Dateabout 578-629

DimensionsH: 3 7/8 in. (9.9 cm); Rim Diam: 2 11/16 in. (6.8 cm); Body Diam: 4 in. (10.2 cm)

MediumGlass; mold blown, tooled

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.1362

Not on View

DescriptionThis octagonal jar is made of medium-thick, translucent dark yellowish-brown glass. Its fabric cannot be fully determined because of weathering, but blowing spirals are visible throughout. The neck and funnel-shaped mouth were free blown, with the hollow rim folded outward, upward, inward, and downward to the narrowest point of the opening. The shoulder is horizontal and leads into an eight-sided body that was blown into a mold with designs in low relief on the interior. Although mold seams cannot be detected, the relief remains moderately distinct. A pontil mark about 1.8 cm in diameter is visible on the flat base, which is undecorated. Each of the jar’s eight rectangular panels is bordered by recessed dots and contains a different intaglio design in sunken relief. From left to right, these motifs include: a menorah with flames on a three-legged stand; an aedicula with columns and an arch framing an indistinct figure (possibly a tree); a stylized palm or tree; a stylized tree; two concentric lozenges with a central recessed dot and additional recessed dots in the lower corners; an unidentified motif; a stylized amphora; and another stylized tree with recessed dots in each corner. This jar belongs to Barag’s Class BB I 1, which groups Jewish pilgrim vessels with this combination of symbolic imagery.

Published ReferencesGoodenough, Erwin R., Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period, New York, 1953, I: The Archaeological Evidence from Palestine, figs. 170-171; III: Illustrations, figs. 414-419.

Barag, Dan P., "Glass Pilgrim Vessels from Jerusalem, Pts. I," Journal of Glass Studies, 12, 1970, p. 57 (BB I 1), 61, fig. 2.

Glass of the Caesars, 1987, p. 177, cited at no. 98.

Stern, E. Marianne, Roman Mold-blown Glass: The First through Sixth Centuries, Rome, "L'Erma" di Bretschneider, 1995, p. 257-258, no. 175.