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

DescriptionThis jug is made of medium-thin, transparent to translucent brownish-yellow glass, with a similarly colored hollow handle. The glass fabric cannot be fully determined because of surface weathering, but blowing spirals are visible. The mouth and tubular neck were free blown, while the hexagonal body was blown into a mold with designs in low relief on the interior. Although mold seams cannot be detected, the relief is moderately indistinct. The spouted mouth has a rim folded outward, upward, inward, and downward, with a constriction at the base of the neck. The shoulder is slightly sloped, and the concave base has a visible pontil mark about 1.4 cm in diameter. Excess glass at the tip of the handle was drawn out thin and pressed flat against the top. The handle is attached to the shoulder above the upper left corner of panel 1 and to the edge of the rim, with a horizontal thumbrest about 2.5 cm from the rim. The body’s six rectangular panels are bordered by recessed dots and decorated in sunken relief with Jewish symbols, similar to those on jar 1923.1359. These include motifs such as a menorah and related sacred elements. This vessel belongs to Barag’s Class B II 3, which groups hexagonal pilgrim jugs with Jewish iconography produced near Jerusalem.

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.