Pilgrim Jar with Jewish Symbols

Place of OriginProbably made in or near Jerusalem

DateLate 6th- early 7th centuries CE

DimensionsH: 8.5 cm (3 3/8 in.); W. (base): 7.5 cm (3 in.); Rim Diam: 2 1/4 in. (5.8 cm); Diam (body): 3 3/16 in. (8.1 cm)

MediumDark brown glass; body blown into a dip mold, rim and neck free blown, tooled

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.1359

Not on View

DescriptionMedium thin glass. Fabric cannot be determined because of weathering. Six-sided body decorated with mold blown Jewish symbols. Transparent to translucent dark brownish orange. Rim and neck free blown. Body blown into a mold with designs in low relief on the interior. Mold seams cannot be detected. Relief moderately distinct. Pontil mark 1.7 cm in diameter. Funnel mouth, with rim folded outward, upward, inward, and downward to narrowest point of opening, with tool marks on interior. Shoulder gently sloped. Hexagonal body. Flat base. On the body, six decorated rectangular panels with designs in intaglio; each panel bordered by recessed dots. In the panels, from left to right: 1, menorah on a three-legged stand; to the right of the menorah an incense shovel, to the left, a shofar (ramÕs horn); 2, stylized amphora with crescents in the lower corners of the panel; 3, two concentric lozenges with a single recessed dot in the center and a recessed dot in each corner of the panel; 4, indistinct, perhaps a jar on curving legs or a plant; 5, stylized date palm, with a recessed dot in each of the lower corners of the panel; 6, two concentric lozenges as in panel 3. CLASSIFICATION Barag B II 1

Published ReferencesNeuberg, Frederic, Ancient Glass,, Toronto, 1962, repr. fig. 55.

Riefstahl, Rudolph M., "The Complexities of Ancient Glass," Apollo, vol. 86, no. 70, Dec. 1967, repr. fig. 16, p. 434.

Labino, Dominick, Visual Art in Glass, Dubuque, IA, 1968, p. 21, 24, repr. fig. 11, p. 23.

Art in Glass, a Guide to the Glass Collections, Toledo, OH, 1969, repr. p. 32.

Gunther, Charles F., "How Glass is Made," Toledo Museum News, New Series: vol. 15, no. 1, repr. p. 17.

Barag, Dan, "Glass Pilgrim Vessels from Jerusalem," Journal of Glass Studies, vol. 12, 1970, p. 49, 56, repr. fig. 15, p. 60.

Goodenough, Erwin R., Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period, New York, 1953, vol. I, p. 170; vol. III, figs. 408-413.

Grose, David, "Ancient Glass," Toledo Museum of Art News, vol. 20, no. 3, 1978, p. 90, repr. fig. 33.

Engle, Anita, Ancient Glass in Its Context (Readings in Glass History, no. 10), Jerusalem, 1978, p. 84, repr.

Vose, Ruth Hurst, "From the Dark Ages to the Fall of Constantinople," in The History of Glass, London, 1984, repr. (col.) p. 52.

Page, Jutta-Annette, The Art of Glass: Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH, Toledo Museum of Art, 2006, p. 52, repr. (col.) p. 53.

Exhibition HistoryThe Dayton Art Institute, The Roman World: Religions and Everyday Life (featuring the Brooklyn Museum exhbition: 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.