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HOME :
Biblical Antiquities :
Ancient Glass : Glass Jar
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Glass Jar - LO.898
Origin: Eastern Mediterranean
Circa: 300
AD
to 600
AD
Dimensions:
3.675" (9.3cm) high
Collection: Biblical Antiquities
Medium: Glass
£5,600.00
Location: UAE
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| Description |
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The history of glass making before the Industrial
revolution can be separated in two stages: in the
first, which began in the 3rd millennium BC and
ended in the period from 100 to 50 BC,
craftsmen discovered how to transform raw
materials into glass and how to make vessels and
other objects either with moulds or by forming a
molten glass around a removable core. Both
techniques were labour-intensive and were
seldom made in big quantities. In the second
stage, beginning in the 1st century AD in the
Syro-Palestinian region, glass workers found
that
molten glass could be formed by inflation and
manipulation with tools. Glass blowing enabled
them to make quickly a wide range of shapes,
thus widening its market.
However, after the 2nd century AD, glass is
generally found in a more confined area. The
change appears to have taken place under the
Flavian Emperors (69-96 AD), an era that in
many ways represents a watershed in the history
of glass making. It is from this time onwards that
glassblowing in the East and the West developed
along independent lines, the only exception
being fine tableware decorated with special
techniques, which was probably due to the still
unifying factor of the Roman Imperial
administration.
Yet, the most prolific period in the history of
glass in the Eastern Mediterranean was during
the late Roman Empire, when Egypt, Palestine,
Syria, Cyprus, Asia Minor and the north Pontic
region all had flourishing glass industries. With
the increased demand for glass, regionalism
became the dominant factor in the production of
glass vessels. Marked regional differences
existed not only between the glass made in Syria,
Jordan and Palestine, but even between different
parts of Palestine (inland vs coast; Galilee and
Phoenicia vs Judea). The glass industries of these
regions experienced a prolonged period of
growth, and the late Roman and early Byzantine
period were by far the most important not only
in terms of absolute output but also in terms of
typologies used. Only during this period, glass
was finally used by different strata of societies,
sometimes even replacing pottery for certain
functions.
The rise of the Syro-African emperors in Rome,
the dynasty of the Severi (193-212 AD) brought
a higher level of prosperity to Syria. The Severi
hailed from Emesa (modern Hom) and the close
connection with Rome benefited the glass
industries and its workers, who seemed to have
moved freely between East and West, some of
them even settling as far as the Rhyneland.
The small jar is made of a transparent pale olive
glass with slightly darker green handles, the rim
rounded in flame with narrow cut-out collar,
funnel mouth, gently sloping shoulder, squat
bulbous body, slightly kicked base. Two quite
sturdy coil handles, each applied to the shoulder,
attached to the edge of the rim and pressed
down against edge of collar.
On the lower part of the body, irregularly spaced
pinched vertical ribs, possibly tooled from the
wall in the making of the vessel. On the interior
and the exterior iridescent weathering and
incipient surface pitting.
In terms of forms, both Syria and Palestine
between the 3rd and 5th century developed an
unrivalled diversity of individual shapes,
including characteristic jars such as the one here
illustrated, whose shape remained largely
unknown in the West. In the Syro-Palestine area
this type of glass jars was widely used in the late
Roman and Byzantine periods. The body was
usually bulbous and flat-bottomed or with a
slightly concave base. Many jars also featured a
relatively tall funnel mouth with just below the
edge of the rim a decorative rim coil or cut-out
fold, also known as projecting roll or cut-out
collar rim.
The presence of the projecting roll in our jar is
an indication that the vessel was not used for
drinking or pouring liquids, because the open
fold would have trapped the liquid. Its use is still
debatable but a plain, two-handled jar with a
projecting roll below the rim, discovered in a
burial a Giv'at Sharet, Israel, indeed contained
traces of cannabis, used in antiquity for
medicinal purposes. On the other hand, evidence
from an Egyptian excavation, would purport the
idea of a more mundane usage as tableware.
Whatever its original function, this beautifully
preserved iridescent jar speaks out of a long-
gone period of cultural thrive that the Eastern
Mediterranean enjoyed during the early centuries
of the Common Era, a fragile -yet unsurpassed-
reminder of the beauty and craftsmanship
achieved by Near Eastern glass workers in
ancient times.
For similar examples see: M.Stern, Roman,
Byzantine and Early Medieval Glass, 2001:
pp.229-239.
- (LO.898)
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