Roman Miniature Amulets | Glass and Metal Oinochoe

Roman, Late Roman to Early Byzantine period. A pair of diminutive jugs rendered at charm scale, each an oinochoe reduced to the size of a fingertip. The larger is cast in a heavily leaded alloy, its ovoid body swelling above a narrow foot and rising to a flaring mouth, with a single loop handle arching from lip to shoulder. Its companion, more petite still, is worked in glass, the body ribbed and softly iridescent from long burial, the handle drawn out in a thin ropelike loop. Both retain the profile of full-size table wares in miniature, and the generous apertures of their handles suggest they were strung and worn, perhaps as pendants or amulets rather than used as vessels. Miniature vessel charms of this kind circulated widely across the late antique Mediterranean. The oinochoe, a wine jug with a trefoil or flaring mouth, was among the most persistent shapes in ancient Mediterranean craft, surviving from Archaic Greece through the Roman Imperial table and into the early Byzantine world. Reduced to pendant scale, the form loses its function and keeps its meaning: a vessel charm evokes plenty, libation, and hospitality in portable shorthand. Such miniatures appear in late antique burials, particularly those of children and women, where small suspended objects were assembled into strands with beads, bells, and pierced coins. Please note that the larger vessel contains up to 72.2% lead. Item # 204595

Estimate:£170.26

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