Pitcher with disc-shaped mouth

Intact pitcher of colourless transparent glass with greenish-bluish hues and a thin whitish weathering patina. The technique used is the blowing one, with decorations consecutively applied.

The pitcher shows a characteristic disc-shaped mouth ending in a rounded edge and a thin trailing applied; the straight and cylindrical neck (h. 7.7 cm) has a thin, rope-like collar attached to its base. The wall is spherical in shape and stands on an applied foot finely molded; halfway through the body is attached the thick straight handle that stretches out diagonally and makes a sharp bend, thus reaching, with a horizontal arrangement, the margin of the mouth with a small element of triangular, elongated shape. Such characteristics resemble the manufacture of metallic objects (Strong D.E., Greek and Roman Gold and Silver Plate, London 1966).

This type of glass vessels with pouring function and with such features was usually produced, together with a great variety of other forms, in the ateliers of Syria and Palestine around the middle of the III-IV century AD. Thanks to the comparison with some pitchers in the Louvre (Arveiller-Dulong V., Nenna M.D., Les vetres antiques du Museé du Louvre, II, Paris 2005), our exemplar can be dated to the IV century AD, and the high quality of its execution technique can be confirmed.