Hexagonal Jug with Unassigned Symbols

DateProbably early 20th century (before 1913)

DimensionsH: 5 1/2 in. (14 cm); Max W Body: 2 11/16 in. (6.8 cm); D Rim: 1 7/8 in. (4.7 cm); W Base: 2 3/8 in. (6.1 cm)

MediumMold blown with applied rim and handle. Medium thin glass.

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.1353

Not on View

DescriptionTransparent vivid turquoise (not in rock color chart). Similarly colored handle. Very bubbly. Black specks and stone inclusions. Mouth and neck free blown. Body probably blown into a multipart mold. Mold seams cannot be detected. Relief moderately crisp. Excess glass at tip of handle folded back against top of handle and pinched against it. Pontil wad of clear colorless glass ca. 0.9 cm in diameter. Spouted mouth, with rim folded outward, upward, inward, and downward. Tapering neck. Shoulder slightly sloped. Hexagonal body. Flattened base. Solid coil handle applied to shoulder above center of panel 1 and attached to rim with a double crimped vertical thumbrest near rim. On the body, six decorated rectangular panels with designs in sunken relief; each panel bordered by recessed dots. In the panels, from left to right: 1, stylized human (?) figure; 2, two inverted V-shaped objects with a triangular element above and a dot below; 3, stylized human (?) figure; 4, two concentric lozenges with dots in each corner of the panel; 5, and 6, stylized human (?) figure. On underside of base, six parallel (?) ribs or indentations. Transparent vivid turquoise (not in rock color chart). Similarly colored handle.

Published ReferencesBarag, Dan P., "Glass Pilgrim Vessels from Jerusalem, Pts. II and III," Journal of Glass Studies 13 (1971), p. 49 (C IV1), 52, fig. 37.

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. 193, pp. 268-269.

Exhibition HistoryBezalel Narkiss, in Age of Spirituality 1977, 386-388, no. 356, 387, ill. (identifies panel 1 as amphora).