Jug in the Shape of the Head of a Woman or Dionysos

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Jug in the Shape of the Head of a Woman or Dionysos

ArtistAttributed to the Workshop of the Floating Handles

Place of OriginAncient Rome, from Syria or Palestine, perhaps Sidon

Datefirst half CE 1st century

DimensionsH: 4 3/8 in. (11.0 cm); H without thumbrest: 3 15/16 in. (10 cm); H body: 2 13/16 in. (7.2 cm); Base diam: 1 1/4 in. (3.2 cm); rim diam: 13/16 in. (2.1 cm)

Mediumblue-green glass

ClassificationGlass

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1967.8

Not on View

DescriptionTransparent pale blue green (5 BG 7/2). <p> Rim tooled. Neck and body blown into a full size two-part mold of two vertical sections, each including one-half of the base (MCT VIII B). One continuous mold seam, through center of face and back of head, extends across underside of base. Relief crisp. No pontil mark. <p> Rim folded upward and inward. Cylindrical neck. Body in the shape of a head on a tall cylindrical neck. Oval slightly concave base. Handle applied to top of neck and pulled downward; at point of application folded upward, outward, downward, and pinched to form a vertical thumbrest. <p> Body in the shape of a female head with deep-set almond-shaped eyes under brows that form diagonal lines descending from the bridge of the nose, a narrow projecting nose, short horizontal lips slightly parted, a very heavy protruding chin, and a tall cylindrical neck with three Venus rings. Teardrop-shaped earrings hang from visible ear lobes. The hair is worn in a very severe style, parted in the middle with a nodus over the center of the forehead, drawn down close to the head in wavy locks from the part to a roll which frames the face, and tied in a chignon at the nape. A corkscrew curl emerges from the corner of the chignon on either side and is drawn diagonally forward down the neck. A short lock curls forward in front of each ear. Underside of base undecorated.

Published ReferencesSangiorgi, g., Collezione di vetri antichi dalle origini al V secolo d. Chr. (Milan and Rome 1914), no. 107, pl. XXII.

"Treasures for Toledo," Toledo Museum of Art, Museum News, New Series, Vol. 12, no. 4, Winter 1969, repr. p. 92.

The Toledo Museum of Art, Art in Glass: A Guide to the Glass Collections, Toledo, Ohio, 1969, 24, ill.

Grose, David F., "Ancient Glass," Toledo Museum of Art, Museum News vol. 20, no. 3 (1978), p. 82, fig. 19.

Stern, E. Marianne, Roman Mold-blown Glass: The First through Sixth Centuries, 1995, no. 138, p. 216-219, color pl. 22, p. 60.

Stern, E. Marianne, "A glass head flask featuring Livia as Hera?," in Kontinos: Festschrift für Erika Simon, Mainz, 1992, pp. 394-399, pl. 81, 2 & 3. [copy of article in Reg. Off & Library].

Page, Jutta-Annette, The Art of Glass: Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio, Toledo Museum of Art, 2006, p. 40, repr. (col.) p. 41.

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 81, repr. (col.).