Images(11)

ewer

Object NameEwer with Bulls and Birds

Made FromGlass

Date800-999

Techniqueblown, relief-cut

SizeOverall H: 17.8 cm; Shoulder Diam: 9.2 cm; Base Diam: 8.9 cm

Accession Number59.1.480

Curatorial Area(s)

Ancient

Place Made

Near East

Physical DescriptionColorless; minute bubbles. Blown; relief-cut. Ewer: cylindrical. Mouth has long, pointed pouring lip and plain rim, which is beveled on inside; neck roughly cylindrical, and wider at bottom than at top; shoulder slopes gently to rounded edge; body has vertical wall; base flat; no trace of pontil mark (but see below); handle with almost square cross section attached to edge of shoulder, drawn up and in, and reattached to outside of rim, with trace of thumb-rest at highest point. Decorated in relief on neck, shoulder, wall, underside of base, and handle. Neck has rectangular panel with continuous raised border, which begins and ends on either side of handle. Panel contains two hare-like animals with raised outlines, seen in profile, with their noses and forefeet touching each other below pouring lip; each animal has head with round and countersunk eye, long and hatched ear, schematic body, and raised tail ending in half-palmette; most outlines are notched, and feet are hatched. Shoulder has horizontal “step” just below neck, raised horizontal rib near midpoint, and, at edge, horizontal band of hollow oval facets alternating with pairs of short transverse cuts. Wall is almost completely filled with rectangular panel, which begins and ends on either side of handle and has horizontal raised border at bottom (it is continuous below handle), but no border at top. Decoration is symmetrical on either side of pouring lip. Central motif consists of short vertical stem; at top, this divides into two sinuous tendrils, each of which divides and terminates in half-palmettes; at bottom, stem splits into two horizontal lines ending in tendrils that curve down and outward, and terminate in half-palmettes. On either side of central motif, single bird stands facing inward; each bird has small head, slender body, folded wing with covert ending in half-palmette, straight tail, and leg and foot extended forward as if grasping support. Behind each bird is one humped bull, shown in profile, facing inward; each animal has head with eye indicated by countersunk dot, ear, and curved horn; body with prominent hump, foreleg extended, and raised tail terminating in half-palmette; some outlines are notched, and hooves, half-palmettes, and other details are hatched. Behind each animal, below handle, are two vertical stems, which extend up and inward [in?] at top and curve down and inward [in?] at bottom, and terminate in half-palmettes; stems are notched, and half-palmettes are hatched. Handle has small rectangular protrusion at bottom and remains of wheel-cut thumb-rest at top. Decoration on underside of base consists of, at center, countersunk circle (D. 1.2 cm) inscribed with star formed from eight narrow, intersecting cuts and surrounded by two concentric countersunk rings (external D. 2.4 cm and 3.4 cm).
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