Glass hexagonal jug
Colorless with translucent purple streak from rim to bottom, with colorless handle.
Tubular rim, folded out, round, and into mouth; concave cylindrical neck; sloping, rounded shoulder; straight-sided hexagonal body, expanding downward; convex undercurve; flat circular bottom; strap handle attached in two large ribs to shoulder and top edge of body above division between panels 5 and 6 (below), drawn up and slightly out, then curved in, and pressed on to top of neck and underside of rim, with projecting flattened thumb rest above.
On shoulder, frieze of indistinct downturned tongues; on body, six rectangular panels, with vertical raised edges, containing objects associated with the Dionysiac cult: 1. crossed, double-ended thyrsi; 2. a footed jug with spout to left and high handle to right; 3. a footed amphora with high handles; 4. a syrinx (pan pipes); 5. a circular object with central protruding boss (a phiale mesomphalos or, perhaps, a cymbal); 6. a footed crater with high handles; around bottom, a frieze of thirty-one upturned, rounded tongues in raised relief; on bottom, raised circle around edge, a fine shallow circle surrounding a thicker and higher ring around a hollow central boss.
Intact; few bubbles; soil encrustation and whitish weathering on exterior, large patch of dark brown weathering and brilliant iridescence on interior.
The six rectangular panels around the sides are decorated with Dionysiac symbols including crossed thyrsi, a syrinx (panpipes), a round object (possibly a tamborine or a cymbal), and three different vases.
Tubular rim, folded out, round, and into mouth; concave cylindrical neck; sloping, rounded shoulder; straight-sided hexagonal body, expanding downward; convex undercurve; flat circular bottom; strap handle attached in two large ribs to shoulder and top edge of body above division between panels 5 and 6 (below), drawn up and slightly out, then curved in, and pressed on to top of neck and underside of rim, with projecting flattened thumb rest above.
On shoulder, frieze of indistinct downturned tongues; on body, six rectangular panels, with vertical raised edges, containing objects associated with the Dionysiac cult: 1. crossed, double-ended thyrsi; 2. a footed jug with spout to left and high handle to right; 3. a footed amphora with high handles; 4. a syrinx (pan pipes); 5. a circular object with central protruding boss (a phiale mesomphalos or, perhaps, a cymbal); 6. a footed crater with high handles; around bottom, a frieze of thirty-one upturned, rounded tongues in raised relief; on bottom, raised circle around edge, a fine shallow circle surrounding a thicker and higher ring around a hollow central boss.
Intact; few bubbles; soil encrustation and whitish weathering on exterior, large patch of dark brown weathering and brilliant iridescence on interior.
The six rectangular panels around the sides are decorated with Dionysiac symbols including crossed thyrsi, a syrinx (panpipes), a round object (possibly a tamborine or a cymbal), and three different vases.
Artwork Details
- Title: Glass hexagonal jug
- Period: Early Imperial
- Date: 1st century CE
- Culture: Roman
- Medium: Glass; blown in a three-part mold
- Dimensions: H.: 4 in. (10.2 cm)
- Classification: Glass
- Credit Line: Gift of Henry G. Marquand, 1881
- Object Number: 81.10.218
- Curatorial Department: Greek and Roman Art
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