Ancient Judean Roman Empire Glass Jar with Four Trailed Handles

Roman, Imperial period, Judea. A small free-blown pale green glass jar with a squat globular body, a short cylindrical neck, and a wide funnel mouth with a rolled lip. A thick trail of the same glass encircles the mouth and is drawn out into loops, from which four handles descend to the shoulder. Each handle ends in a flattened, pinched pad pressed against the body. The surface shows milky weathering, with silvery and blue iridescence. Jars of this type were likely used to hold cosmetics, ointments, and other small household contents. Glassblowing was invented on the Syro-Palestinian coast around the middle of the 1st century BCE, and the Levant stayed one of the great centers of Roman glass production for centuries afterward. Workshops there liked applied trails: threads of hot glass wound around necks, laid in zigzags, or pulled into handles. The pinched, flattened ends on these four handles are a typical regional touch, made with tongs while the glass was still soft. Item # 205285

Estimate:£452.13

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