Pilgrim Jug with Jewish Symbols

Place of Originprobably Jerusalem, Palestine

Dateabout 578-629

Dimensions5 1/4 × 2 3/4 × 3 in. (13.3 × 7 × 7.6 cm)
3 × 5/8 × 1/4 in.

Mediumglass

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.1360

Not on View

DescriptionMold-blown, tooled, applied handle. Transparent to translucent brownish yellow with dark streaks. Similarly colored handle. Six-sided body with mold blown Jewish symbols. Medium thin glass. Blowing spirals. Small spherical bubbles in mouth and body, medium-sized vertically elongated bubbles in neck. Neck and mouth free blown. Body blown into a mold with designs in low relief on the interior. Mold seams cannot be detected. Relief moderately crisp. Ring pontil mark ca. 1.45 cm in diameter. Excess glass at tip of handle drawn out thin and pressed flat against top of handle. Spouted mouth, with rim folded inward and downward. Cylindrical neck. Horizontal shoulder. Hexagonal body. Flat base. Hollow tubular handle applied to shoulder above junction of panels 4 and 5 and attached to edge of rim with horizontal thumbrest ca. 2.7 cm from rim. For description, see 1923.1358. CLASSIFICATION: Barag B V 9. Transparent to translucent brownish yellow with dark streaks. Similarly colored handle. Neck and mouth free blown. Body blown into a mold with designs in low relief on the interior. Mold seams cannot be detected. Relief moderately crisp. Ring pontil mark ca. 1.45 cm in diameter. Excess glass at tip of handle drawn out thin and pressed flat against top of handle. Spouted mouth, with rim folded inward and downward. Cylindrical neck. Horizontal shoulder. Hexagonal body. Flat tiered base. Hollow tubular handle applied to shoulder above junction of panels 4 and 5 and attached to edge of rim with horizontal thumbrest ca. 2.7 cm from rim. For description, see Cat. No. 173. CLASSIFICATION Barag B V 9

Published ReferencesReifenberg, A., Denkmäler der Judischen Antiken, Berlin, 1937, p. 60.

Reifenberg, A., Ancient Hebrew Arts, New York, 1950, repr. p. 153.

Goodenough, Erwin R., Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period, New York, 1953, vol. I, pp. 169-170; vol. III, figs. 388-393.

Barag, Dan P., "Glass Pilgrim Vessels from Jerusalem, Pts. I," Journal of Glass Studies, vol. 12, 1970, p. 49, p. 57 (B V 9), 61, fig. 22.

Renov, Israel, "Preliminary Report on the Conography of Jewish Vessels," Readings in Glass History, no. 4, Jerusalem, 1974, p. 19, fig. 2.

Stern, E. Marianne, Roman Mold-blown Glass: The First through Sixth Centuries, Rome: "L'Erma" di Bretschneider, 1995, p. 257, no. 174, color pl. 28.

Exhibition HistoryNew York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Age of Spirituality, 1977-1978, no. 354, repr. p. 386 (cat. entry by Bexalei Narkiss).

The Dayton Art Institute, The Roman World: Religions and Everyday Life (featuring the Brooklyn Museum exhibition: Tree of Paradise: Jewish Mosaics from the Roman Empire), September 21, 2007-January 6, 2008 (no cat.).

Toledo Museum of Art, The Egypt Experience: Secrets of the Tomb, October 29, 2010-January 8, 2012.