ROMAN GLASS JUG WITH SHOULDER RIDGE

AJAM # 083 Jug with shoulder-ridge

of

AJAM /Collection of Ancient Glass

Origin: Western Roman Empire, probably Italy.

Date: 1st century AD.

Size: ↑ 10 cm │Ø max.8 cm. │ Ø rim  2.8 cm. │ Weight 62 grams.

Technique: Free blown.

Classification: Isings (1957) form 53 (variant), Jean Morin (1913) form 47 (variant).

Description  

Transparent yellow-green jug with amber spots. Light-green handle and brownish hollow edge decoration. The jug has a stocky spherical body which is flattened at the base. The cylindrical neck tapers slightly and ends in an outward and inward folded mouth edge. Unusual is the hollow round edge that is pulled up from the shoulder out of the glass. Served this as pure decoration or is it perhaps practically an overflow trap for the liquid contents? The light green grip is raised from the shoulder with a slight bend to the edge to first have created a vertical thumb rest to be halfway through the neck with a small loop on the edge is mounted. The flattened bottom with a collection sticker NFB 157 is smoothly polished.

Remark 1  

One of the characteristic features of Isings shape 53 is the foot ring pulled  out of the body.

This is not the case with the Jug AJAM 083.

Remark 2 

C.F. Lightfoot (2018) mentions at no.143 of The Cesnola Collection this jug formerly Nico F. Bijnsdorp NFB 157 as a parallel.

Condition                    

Intact, in excellent condition.

Published           

2003, 8 October. Auction 23, by Howard S Rose, Arte Primitivo, lot No. 309.

2022 September. Fascinating fragility a Private Collection of Ancient Glass, Volume I,

by Nico F. Bijnsdorp, page 196-197.

Provenance              

2003 – 2022  collection Nico F. Bijnsdorp, Pijnacker (NL), No. NFB 157.

2003, 14 October, Arte Primitivo lot No. 309 New York (USA).

From the 1980s to 1999, collection Dr. Angelo R. Bergamo, Montclair, NY, (USA).

References                

The Metropolitan Museum NY (USA), No. 74.51.143, 2017,The Cesnola Collection No. 143.

Les Verres Antiques du Musee du Louvre II, 2005,  Dulong & Nenna, No.46.

Museo Civico Locarno,1991, Simona Biaggio, No. 000.1.029,  Pl.29, Fig.14.

The Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaelogy, 2000, by Özet No. 21.Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Kassel, Antike Gläser, 1984, M Booser. No. 53.

A SPECIAL TYPE OF STANGENGLAS WITH CLAWS AND ANIMAL HEADS

STANGENGLAS WITH CLAWS AND ANIMAL HEADS

Collection of Karl Amendt

A Stangenglas is a tall, narrow cylindrical drinking vessel, usually with a pedestal foot. This German word means “pole glass”.  Between the late 15^th and mid-16^th centuries, glassmakers in Germany produced large Stangenglases with elaborate applied decoration.  The glass is colorless or very pale green; the decoration is either the same color or a strongly contrasting color such as deep blue.  The ornament sometimes consists of low “trunks” or “claws” similar to the decoration found on late Roman and medieval beakers. (Information above was taken from a wonderful book Medieval Glass for Popes Princes and Peasants, The Corning Museum of Glass, David Whitehouse, 2010.)

Another type of Stangenglas (below) turned up in 15^th century, an octagonal one which slightly widens upwards and is supported on a folded foot.  These angular beakers were made until late in the 17^th century.  When rings of molten glass were laid on the beaker at regular distances the result was the so-called Passglas.  Some octagonal stangenglaser from the early part of the 16^th century were decorated with a complicated pattern of trailing with mould-blown trunks and heads of animals these elaborate adornments were no longer applied after 1550. ( Information above was taken from the book Glass Without Gloss, Utility glass from five Centuries excavated in the low countries 1300-1800. Harold E. Henkes, 1994)

Glasmuseum Hentrich, Museum Kunst Palast, Dusseldorf

Below are examples of these types of Stangenglases from different collections.

Collection of Karl Amendt

Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam

Collection of Karl Amendt

Collection of Karl Amendt

Collection of Karl Amendt

Collection of Karl Amendt

Collection of Karl Amendt

Landesmuseum Wurttemberh, Stuttgart

MEROVINGIAN GLASS JAR

134E Merovingian Glass Jar of The Allaire Collection

Date: 7th C, Size: D 6cm, H 6.7cm, Weight: 62g

Description: Made of light amber glass with visible faint swirls made in the manufacturing process of impurities in the glass batch. This jar is of flattened globular shaped body with slightly thickened rim. The base is flattened with center slightly indented showing a pontil mark. Object is in excellent intact condition. Dating from the Merovingian period, bowls of this type have also been discovered in Anglo-Saxon graves.

References: Tresors de Wallonie Les Verres Merovingiens P. 122 #33, Glass of the Dark Ages, Sheppard & Cooper Ltd P. 9 #16 ( dark olive brown), Le verre Merovingien: du quart nord-est de la France, Jean-Yves Feyeux, Plate 65 # 694, Memoires de Verre, Catherine Vandour, 2009 P. 38 #6 (with toes & trails) P. 76 #164 (with toes & trails)

EARLY BYZANTINE MOLD-BLOWN GLASS VESSELS

Glass in The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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Early Byzantine mold-blown glass vessels mainly can be put into two groups

Group I

Characteristics: Mostly made with blue green glass with one sub-group using Christian symbols and the second sub-group having stylized crosses, columns, palm fronds & simple geometric patterns. Below are examples of this group.

Corning Museum of Glass

Corning Museum of Glass

BYZANTINE JUG DEDICATED TO ST. SABAS of Nico F. Bijnsdorp

BYZANTINE JUG DEDICATED TO ST. SABAS of Nico F. Bijnsdorp

Corning Museum of Glass

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Group II

Characteristics: Mostly made with brown, sometimes bluish green glass with one sub-group using Christian, Jewish or geometric pattern symbols in four sided vessels.  The second sub-group also in brown glass in two shapes jugs and jars both squat in hexagonal vessels. Also stylized with Christian, Jewish or geometric patterns  symbols.

Corning Museum of Glass

Allaire Collection of Glass

Corning Museum of Glass

HEXAGONAL JUG WITH CHRISTIAN SYMBOLS of Nico F. Bijnsdorp

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

THE PRINCETON UNIVERSITY ART MUSEUM

Corning Museum of Glass

Corning Museum of Glass

FAÇON de VENISE GLASS FROM TUSCANY

The Tuscany region of central Italy has been a glass manufacturing center since Roman times through the Renaissance up to modern day.  The glass made there in the 15^th to 17^th had a slightly different styling than glass from Venice in the Veneto region of Northern Italy.  The examples in this post will illustrate this. (Click on the photos below to see an enlarge picture.)

FAÇON DE VENISE GLASS, Early 17th century from Elisabeth & Theo Zandbergen (Link)https://ancientglass.wordpress.com/2017/11/16/facon-de-venise-wineglass-made-from-cristallo/

(122E) Allaire Collection Tuscan Wine Glass, End of 16th century (Link)https://ancientglass.wordpress.com/2019/02/08/facon-de-venise-tuscan-wine-glass/

From the book “Fragili Traspareneze Vetri Antichi in Toscana”

From the book “Fragili Traspareneze Vetri Antichi in Toscana”

FAÇON DE VENISE GLASS, Early 17th century From Elisabeth & Theo Zandbergen (Link)https://ancientglass.wordpress.com/2012/03/20/facon-de-venise-glass-made-in-tuscany/

From the book “Fragili Traspareneze Vetri Antichi in Toscana”

From the book “Fragili Traspareneze Vetri Antichi in Toscana”

From the book “Fragili Traspareneze Vetri Antichi in Toscana”

From the book “Fragili Traspareneze Vetri Antichi in Toscana”

From the book “Fragili Traspareneze Vetri Antichi in Toscana”

Glass with Two Handles 17th C. From the book “The Van Beek Collection: Passion for Glass”, 2015 Frides Lameris Art & Antiques

GLASS OF LATE MEDIEVAL EUROPE

SUMMARY OF GLASS HISTORY DURING MIDDLE AGES IN WESTERN EUROPE

During the 1,000 years of the Middle Ages also referred to as the Dark Ages, Europe underwent profound changes. David Whitehouse in Medieval Glass for Popes, Princes, and Peasant the book for the 2010 exhibition at The Corning Museum of Glass divides this period of history into three sections.  The Early Middle Ages from the fifth to the eighth century, the Central Middle Ages starting with the eighth to the eleventh and the Late Middle Ages 12^th to 14^th centuries. Some scholars refer to Early Middle Ages also as the Migration Period.

Glass from the Early and Central Middle Ages is mostly a story of drinking vessels, bowls, cups, beakers, drinking horns, and bottles.  In the later period drinking vessels start to decline in importance with the rise of stained glass used for the windows of cathedrals. The oldest-known fragments of medieval pictorial stained glass appear to date from the 10th century. The earliest intact figures are the five prophet windows at Augsburg Germany, dating from the late 11th century. At Canterbury and Chartres Cathedrals, a number of panels of the 12th century have survived. Most of the magnificent stained glass of France is in the famous windows of Chartres Cathedral, date from the 13th century.  So important and beautiful are stained glass windows in the Middle Ages that generally, that is all you hear about on the subject of Medieval glass.  Most of the glass vessels produced in the later Middle Ages in northern Germany, the Low Countries, and central Europe were made of transparent green Waldglas or foresglass.  The color came from the presence of impurities (iron oxide) in the raw materials.  This type of glass particularly the Berkemeyer and Krautstrunk evolved in the 17^th century into the Roemer.

Parts of this article come from the book written by David Whitehouse, Medieval Glass for popes, Princes, and Peasant,2010 and an article in Glashistorisch Tijdschrift nr.138. By Theo Zandbergen

GLASS FROM THE LATE MIDDLE AGES

IN THE ALLAIRE COLLECTION

13E KRAUTSRUNK BEAKER

The Allaire Collection 13e krautstrunk 15th century

23E MEDIEVAL MAIGELEIN

The Allaire Collection 23e maigeline 15th century

49E MEDIEVAL MAIGELEIN

The Allaire Collection 49e maigeliin 15th century

74E WARZENBEACHER (wart beaker)

The Allaire Collection 74E Warzenbecher 17th century

86E MEDIEVAL BEAKER WITH STEM FOOT

Allaire Collection, Wald Glass Beaker C. 1550

105E KEULENGLAS BEAKER

105E Keulenglas Beaker 17th Century

109E RIDGED BEAKER WITH DISTINCT FOOT

The Allaire Collection 109E Ridged Beaker with a Distinct Foot 17th century

110E TRAILED BEAKER FROM THE NETHERLANDS

The Allaire Collection 110E Trailed Beaker First half of the 17th century

120E SINGLE KUTTROLF FROM THE MIDDLE AGES

The Allaire Collection 120E Single Kuttrolf H 18 cm Date 1560

GLASS GOBLETS OF THE MIDDLE AGES

GOBLETS OF THE LATE MIDDLE AGES

Goblet from Germany first half of the 16th century in the Collection of Karl Amendt Krefeld

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The Middle Ages is a period of European history between the decline of the Roman Empire in the 5^th century A.D. and the dawn of the Renaissance in the 15^th century Italy.  The Western Roman Empire ended more or less at the end of the 5^th century.  The Eastern Roman Empire, Byzantium, ended in 1453 when the Sultan Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire conquered Constantinople and formed an Islamic state at the eastern borders of Europe.

During the 1,000 years of the Middle Ages also referred to as the Dark Ages, Europe underwent profound changes.  The Middle Ages can be divided into three periods: The Early Middle Ages from the 5^th to the 8^th century some scholars refer to this as the Migration Period(active link).  The Central Middle Ages starting with the 8^th to the 11^th and the Late Middle Ages 12^th to 14^th centuries.

Glass from the Early and Central Middle Ages is mostly a story of drinking vessels, bowls, cups, beakers, drinking horns, and bottles. In the later period drinking vessels start to decline in importance with the rise of stained glass used for the windows of cathedrals.  Goblets of the Late Middle Ages where not as refined as those of the Venetian and Façon de Venise period but they had a strong masculine beauty. Most of the glass vessels produced at this time came from northern Germany, the Low Countries, and central Europe and were made of transparent green Waldglas or forest glass.  The color came from the presence of impurities (iron oxide) in the raw materials.  This type of glass particularly the Berkemeyer (active link) and Krautstrunk(active link) evolved in the 17^th century into the Roemer(active link).

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This post is a pictorial of goblets from when they first appeared in the 11th to the 15th century to the beginning of the  Renaissance. 

Sketch of rare glass goblets from the 13th and 14th century interpreted from fragments

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13th to 14th century Goblet Collection of Karl Amendt, Krefeld

13th to 14th century Photo from the book Slitine-Histoire du Verre L’Antiquite, Florence Slitine, Paris, 2005

End of 15th-Early 16th C. Photo from the book Slitine-Histoire du Verre L’Antiquite, Florence Slitine, Paris, 2005

End of 15th-Early 16th C. Photo from the book Slitine-Histoire du Verre L’Antiquite, Florence Slitine, Paris, 2005

Second Half of 13th C. Photo from the book Baumgartner-Phonix aus Sand Und Asche, Glas des Mittlelalters, Erwin Baumgartner & Ongeborg Krueger, Munchen, 1989

13th early 14th C. Photo from the book Baumgartner-Phonix aus Sand Und Asche, Glas des Mittlelalters, Erwin Baumgartner & Ongeborg Krueger, Munchen, 1989

13th C. Photo from the book Baumgartner-Phonix aus Sand Und Asche, Glas des Mittlelalters, Erwin Baumgartner & Ongeborg Krueger, Munchen, 1989

Early 16th C. Collection of Karl Amendt, Krefeld

Germany 15 th century Collectin of Karl Amendt, Krefeld

Germany 1500-1550 The Corning Museum of Glass

Germany 1500-1550 The J. Paul Getty Museum

Germany mid-16th century Collection of Karl Amendt

First half of 16th C. Photo from the book Baumgartner-Phonix aus Sand Und Asche, Glas des Mittlelalters, Erwin Baumgartner & Ongeborg Krueger, Munchen, 1989

Early 16 th C. The Cloisters Museum and Gardens, part of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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Hedwig Beaker Late 12th C. in the collection of The Corning Museum of Glass

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Hedwig Beakers

Hedwig beakers form a small but famous group of vessels. They share several characteristics: the same form (beakers with a straight, tapering side), the same finishing techniques (decorated by cutting), and the same shallow faceting of the upper wall in order to display the ornament in relief. The beakers range in height from 8.3 to 14.6 centimeters. All are colorless or nearly colorless. The repertoire of motifs is varied: lions, eagles, griffins, and the tree of life are recurrent elements, but we also find a chalice, a crescent moon and stars, palmettos, and abstract or geometric motifs. It appears these objects were designed to be fitted with gold mounts to be used as goblets. Below are beakers as they appear in their gold mounts and one with a lid.  Additional information about the Hedwig Beaker can be found at Corning Museum of Glass(active link)

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Below are Two Hedwig beakers shown in their gold mounts

Photo from Baumgartner-Phonix aus Sand Und Asche, Glas des Mittlelalters, Erwin Baumgartner & Ongeborg Krueger, Munchen, 1989

Photo from Baumgartner-Phonix aus Sand Und Asche, Glas des Mittlelalters, Erwin Baumgartner & Ongeborg Krueger, Munchen, 1989

SPANISH GLASS CANTIR with CORDED WHITE CANES

44E Spanish Cantir with Corded White Canes from Catalonia

of the Allaire glass collection

44E Spanish Cantir

Description: Cantir of yellowish glass decorated with opaque white cord trails called canna a fili. Glassmakers in Catalonia, Spain were producing decoration of this type in the middle of the 16^th into the 17^th century

Date: Second half of 16^th through 17^th century. . Size: Height: 19.5 cm Weight: 139 g

Remarks: The trails used for this type of decoration are called corded white canes which is a single opaque white thread of glass surrounded by clear colorless glass. During this period of glass making the canes were either marvered flush with the body or left in relief called cords. Cantir is the Catalonia for Porron or clay rug.

Below are other examples of the corded canes decoration on Spanish glass from the book, Fragil Transparencia Vidrios espanoles de los siglos XVI a XVIII, by Jean-Paul Philippart 2011. Click on the pictures to enlarge them and the X in the right hand corner to come back to this page.

Sanctuary Lamp 16th century

The corded canes and prunt on this sanctuary lamp

A footed bowl with handles.

A bucket bowl with handle.

Pitcher

Almorratxa, vessel for sprinkling rose-water,late16th C.

DECORATED PYXIS OR JAR

DECORATED PYXIS OR JAR of Hans van Rossum

DECORATED PYXIS OR JAR

LID OF DECORATED PYXIS OR JAR

BASE OF DECORATED PYXIS OR JAR

4th – 5th century AD | Eastern Mediterranean

Size↑6.2 cm | ø 6.4 cm | Weight 66 g

Technique: Free blown, thread applied, tooled

Description: Transparent bluish-green glass, cylindrical body with hollow cut-out flange below polished and unworked mouth. Body decorated with zigzag of bluish-green glass
coil. Tubular pushed-in base ring. Pontil scar.

Condition: Intact

Provenance: Auction München 2014

Remarks: A shape with a cut-out flange, in combination with the zigzag decoration is rare.
The lid is authentic but originally not belonging to this jar.

Reference: No parallels could be found

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY HOLIDAYS

Best Wishes in 2023

Art work by Laura Zandbergen at Studio Loz Sand at www.studiolozsand.com.