MOLD-BLOWN SIDONIAN JUG

Mold-blown Sidonian Jug of  Hans van Rossum

                              First half of 1st century AD | Eastern Mediterranean, Sidon

                             Size↑9.6 cm | ø 4.6 cm (body) | Weight 28 g

 

Technique: Mold-blown, neck and rim free blown; handle applied

Classification:  Stern 1995 M(old) (Construction) (Types) MCT I. Morin-Jean 1913, type handle β²

Description: Thin transparent purple glass. Rim folded outward, upward and inward. Neck tapers downward. Convex shoulder and convex bottom joined by a cylindrical body. On the flat underside of the base, one broad raised circle around central dimple. Cobalt blue strap handle looped twice at the rim to form a thumb-rest. Body blown into a three-part (?) mold of two vertical sections joined to a cup-shaped base section. Neck free blown. On the shoulder, a frieze of twenty-four fine ribs with thickened lower ends. Body mold-blown in relief with two bands of ivy garlands. Around the bottom, a frieze of twenty-eight fine ribs with thickened upper ends. No pontil mark.

Condition: Intact, perfect condition

Remarks:  For a description of this type see: Stern 1995 pp. 167 – 169.”The large number of mold-blown glass vessels produced according to the fashions of the first century AD makes it possible to isolate groups of vessels on the basis of common features. These vessels were presumably produced in workshops operating in the vicinity of Ennion’s establishment. Nevertheless, Ennion stood out among the          other artists in terms of both the quality of his work and its quantity. It is possible to group together additional families of vessels, produced in other workshops, on the basis of shared motifs, and occasionally, technical features.”(Y. Israeli 2011)

Provenance: Collection C. A. Hessing, Laren (NL) 1998, formed in the 1990s, collection number 80 Collection Sheldon Lewis Breitbart USA, prior to 1990

Published: Glass Circle News, Issue 133, Vol. 36 no. 3, 2013, Antiek Glas, de Kunst van het Vuur, R. van Beek no. 104, Magazine Origin (NL) no. 6, January – February 1997, Bonhams London, auction 4 July 1996 lot 292, Sotheby’s New York 20 June 1990, The Breitbart Collection of Antiquities lot 97

Exhibited: Allard Pierson Museum Amsterdam (NL), de Kunst van het Vuur, no. 104 17 May – 16 September 2001

Reference : The Benzian Collection of Ancient and Islamic Glass, Sotheby’s London 7 July 1994 lot 79 for a similar example, Gläser der Antike, Sammlung Oppenländer, A. von Saldern no. 441 Roman Mold-blown Glass, the Toledo Museum of Art, E.M. Stern nos. 76 – 78