Corning Museum of Glass A NOTE ON JEWISH GOLD … · A NOTE ON JEWISH GOLD GLASSES Irmgard Schüler...

Corning Museum of Glass

A NOTE ON JEWISH GOLD GLASSESAuthor(s): Irmgard SchülerSource: Journal of Glass Studies, Vol. 8 (1966), pp. 48-61Published by: Corning Museum of GlassStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/24184879Accessed: 20-09-2016 19:47 UTC

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A NOTE ON JEWISH GOLD GLASSES

Irmgard Schüler

Gold glasses with Jewish symbols were - the first objects of Jewish art known, long before mosaic floors in syna

gogues, paintings in Jewish catacombs and the frescoes of the synagogue at Dura-Europos were discovered. Though often mentioned, they have never been treated separately (Fig. I).1

The technique by which a thin layer of gold leaf is laminated between two layers of glass was known as early as the third century B.C. The earliest examples imitated contemporary Megarian and faience bowls.2 One, in the Rothschild collection, is said to have been

bought in Palestine (Fig. 2).3 Two, now in the British Museum, were found at Canosa, Apulia (Fig. 3). These gold laminated pieces have been generally attributed to Alexandria. They re mind one of the glass vessels decorated and

1. Full descriptions are given in: H. Vopel, Die altchristlichen Goldgläser, Freiburg, 1899, Nos. 159 167, 493; J. B. Frey, "Corpus inscriptionum iudai carum," Sussidi alio studio delle antichità cristiane, I, Vatican City, 1936, Nos. 515-522, 732, 734. Only a few are mentioned in C. R. Morey, The Gold-Glass Collec tion of the Vatican Library, Vatican City, 1959, Nos. 114-116, .346, 426, 433, 458.

2. A. von Saldern, "Glass Finds at Gordion," Journal of Glass Studies, I, 1959, p. 45; M. Rostovtzeff, Social and Economic History of the Hellenistic World, I, Ox ford, 1941, p. 372; idem, Iranians and Greeks in South Russia, Oxford, 1922, p. 233, Note 15a.

3. P. Wuilleumier, Le trésor de Tarente, Paris, 1930, pp. 29-30.

48

ills m.

Fig. 1. Catalog No. 4.

mounted in gold which are described as having been used at a banquet and in a procession during the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (284-246 B.C.).4

A second and later group, dated according to a gilt glass fragment found at Dura-Europos

4. M. L. Trowbridge, Philological Studies in Ancient Glass, Univ. of Illinois Studies in Language and Litera ture, XIII, Nos. 3-4, 1928, pp. 110, 154; P. Fossing, Glass Vessels Before Glassblowing, Copenhagen, 1940, p. 103. See also A. Kisa, Das Glas im Altertume, Leip zig, 1908, p. 836.


Fig. 2. Gold glass bowl, found in Palestine, 3rd century B.C. D. 15.0 cm. Rothschild Collection, Paris. (Reproduced from Pierre Wuilleumier, Le trésor de Tarente, Paris, 1930.)

Fig. 3. Gold glass bowl, found at Canosa, Apulia. 3rd century B.C. D. 20.1 cm. British Museum, Lon don. (No. 71.5-18.2.) (Photo courtesy Trustees of the British Museum.)

and for which we have a terminus ante quem of 256 A.D., the date of the town's destruction,5

comprises mostly pieces found in Kertch, South Russia (Fig. 4),6 in Nahariya (Israel), in Palmy

5. P. V. C. Baur, M. I. Rostovtzeff and A. R. Bellin ger, The Excavations at Dura-Europos, Preliminary Re port of Fourth Season of Work, New Haven, 1933, pp. 37, 252; C. W. Clairmont, The Glass Vessels: The Ex cavation at Dura-Europos, Final Report, IV, Part V, New Haven, 1963, pp. 34 ff., No. 126, Pl. XX. This fragment depicts the head of Thetis.

6. D. B. Harden, "Glass and Glazes" in C. Singer, History of Technology, II, Oxford, 1956, p. 343; V. Midler, "Die Typen der Daphnedarstellungen," Rö mische Mitteilungen, 44, 1929, p. 63; Baur, et al., op. cit., pp. 252 ff.; R. W. Smith, Glass from the Ancient World, Corning, 1957, No. 342 (Acquired by The Cor ning Museum of Glass, No. 55.1.86).

V ¥ k- '■ •b, ; • .. 4 y r.

Fig. 4. The Daphne ewer, found in Kertch. Possi bly Syria, Antioch. Late 2nd-early 3rd century A.D. H. 22.2 cm. The Corning Museum of Glass (No. 55.1.86.)

Fig. 5. The Kantharos Disch, found in Cologne. Rhineland, late 3rd-early 4th century A.D. H. 13.5 cm. Private Collection, Rome.

49


Fig. 6. Gold glass boivl, found in Traselico, Cala bria. Late Hellenistic(P), Parthian(P). Museo Na zionale, Reggio Calabria.

ra,7 in Begram,8 and in Cologne (Fig. 5).° An other group, seemingly also of Eastern origin, includes, among others, laminated gold glasses found in Trasilico (Fig. 6),10 Olbia,11 and the fragment in Moscow.12

The gilt glasses found in Cologne13 differ from the better and longer known "Early

7. Selim Abdul Hak, "Les verres peints de la période romaine, conservés au Musée National de Damas," An nales Archéologique de Syrie, XV, No. 1, 1965, pp. 21-24.

8. Pierre Hamelin, "Sur quelques verreries de Be gram," Cahiers de Byrsa, 2, 1952, pp. 11 ff.

9. Baur, et al., op. cit., p. 252; C. Albizati, "Il Kantharos Disch," Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäolo gischen Instituts, 41, 1926, pp. 74 ff.; F. Fremersdorf, "Zum Kantharos Disch-Sangiorgi," Jahrbuch des Deut schen Archäologischen Instituts, 46, 1931, col. 116 ff.; idem, Römische Gläser mit Fadenauflage in Köln, Cologne, 1959, p. 17.

10. Rostovtzeff, Social and Economie History . . . , I, p. 373, Pl. XLIV, Fig. 1; idem, "Die hellenistisch römische Architekturlandschaft," Römische Mitteilun gen, XXVI, 1911, p. 63.

11. Rostovtzeff, Social and Economic History . . . , I, p. 373.

12. Rostovtzeff, ibid., p. 373, PI. XLIV, Fig. 2; idem, "Die hellenistisch-römische Architekturlandschaft," p. 63, Fig. 38.

13. Morey, op. cit., No. 421; Fremersdorf, "Ein bisher unbekanntes römisches Goldglas mit christlichen Wunderszenen in der römischen Abteilung des Wallraf Richartz-Museum," Wallraf-Richartz Jahrbuch, New Series, 1, 1930, p. 282; idem, Römisches Buntglas in Köln, Cologne, 1958, p. 53.

50

f(7

Fig. 7. Gold glass medallion with family group on blue ground. Roman Empire, possibly Egypt, 3rd 4th century A.D. Museo Cristiano, Brescia.

Christian" laminated gold glasses which were mostly found in the catacombs,14 in that they have no second protective glass layer.

The latter group may be divided into gold glass medallions of excellent technique, possi bly the best being in Brescia (Fig. 7),15 which, according to its inscription, may be traced to the Fayum, and the late and fairly crude ones, often bearing Christian symbols, which were found in the Roman catacombs.10

Among the about four hundred and fifty gold glasses known, fourteen bear Jewish symbols and about two hundred and seventy-nine are without decidedly Christian emblems. Yet, in spite of this, the technique has always been connected with Early Christian art and its pos sible Jewish origins has been largely over looked.

For most of the gold glasses found by Bosio

14. Vopel, op. cit.; Morey, op. cit.; R. Garrucci, Vetri ornati di figure in oro trovati nei cimiteri cristiani di Roma, Rome, 1864; A. Kisa, op. cit., p. 834; O. M. Dal ton, "The Gilded Glasses of the Catacombs," Archaeo logical Journal, LVIII, 1901, pp. 226-253.

15. Morey, op cit., No. 237; F. de Mely, "Le médail lon de la croix du Musée chrétien de Brescia," Aréthuse, III, 1926, p. 6; C. R. Morey, Early Christian Art, Prince ton, 1942, p. 128; Ludwig Budde, Die Entstehung des antiken Repräsentationsbildes, Leipzig, 1956, PI. 18.

16. See Note 14.


in Rome before 1629,17 no find dates have

reached us. Vopel18 cites cases where, near the traces left by removed gold glasses, and hence no longer identifiable, there are inscriptions from the years 291 and 341 A.D. as well as medallions of the Emperor Maximian. This may indicate that those "Early Christian" gold glasses found in the Roman catacombs must have originated in the second half of the third century. However, a gold glass from the Ger man Campo Santo with the inscription "Jus tinianus Perpetuo Augustus" shows that they were still made in the sixth century.19

17. Dalton, op. cit., p. 226. 18. Vopel, op. cit., pp. 18-19. 19. Vopel, op. cit., p. 22.

Fig. 8. Blue glass howl with biblical scenes and portraits, found in Köln-Braunsfeld, Rhineland, ca. 326 A.D. D. 12.4 cm. Römisch-Germanisches

Museum, Cologne. (No. 991.)

Fig. 9. Restoration of Köln-Braunsfeld bowl.

Fig. 10. Detail of Köln-Braunsfeld bowl.

f1

it)

Fig. 11. Detail of Köln-Braansfeld bowl.

As we have no secure dates for these early finds of Roman gold glasses, those found since the middle of the nineteenth century in the well-published excavations in Cologne are of great importance.

The most interesting of these is the gilded blue glass bowl (Morey 421) found near a late Roman "Gutshof" or villa rustica in Köln

Braunsfeld (Figs. 8-11).20 This can be dated

20. Morey, The Gold-Glass Collection . . . , No. 421; Fremersdorf, "Ein bisher unbekanntes römische Gold glas mit christlichen Wunderszenen . . . des Wallraf Richartz-Museum," p. 282; idem, "Der römische Gutshof in der Stoibergerstrasse zu Köln-Braunsfeld," Bonner Jahrbücher, 135, 1930, pp. 109 ff.

51


quite accurately as it bears portraits of the four sons of Constantine the Great and was made

for the Vicennalia of that emperor.21 Besides these medallions, there are six scenes from the Old Testament: Daniel in the lion's den, three

scenes from the story of Jonah, Moses striking water from the rock, and Noah in the ark. These

biblical scenes, though common in early Chris tian art, are not exclusively Christian. The bowl

does not carry any purely Christian symbols such as the cross, the monogram of Christ, or pictures of Christ or of Saints. That scenes from

the Old Testament were often used by Jews is attested by the mosaic floors of Palestinian synagogues22 and the wall paintings of the synagogue at Dura-Europos.23

The burial grounds in which this gilded bowl (Morey 421) was found (Fig. 8) are of interest as they have yielded two other graves contain ing famous glass vessels; one the so-called "Zirkusbecher" of engraved glass, and the other the newly discovered cage-cup belonging to the decidedly Rhenish group B of cage-cups without figurai scenes.24 Doppelfeld points out that these rich finds are in direct contrast to the

simple and rather primitive dwelling excavated on the same plot.25 The graves must have be

21. R. Delbrück, Spätantike Kaiserporträts, Berlin, 1933, pp. 132 ff.

22. E. L. Sukenik, Ancient Synagogues in Palestine and Greece, London, 1934; idem, The Ancient Syna gogue of Beth Alpha, London(?), 1932; Ernst Kitzinger, Israeli Mosaics of the Byzantine Period, Unesco, 1965, Pis. 8-10.

23. Carl H. Kraeling, The Synagogue: The Excava tions at Dura-Europos, Final Report, VII, Part 1, New Haven, 1956; M. Rostovtzeff, Dura-Europos and Its Art, Oxford, 1938.

24. D. B. Harden, "The Rothschild Lycurgus Cup," Journal of Glass Studies, V, 1963, p. 9; D. B. Harden and J. M. Toynbee, "The Rothschild Lycurgus Cup," Archaeologia, XCVII, 1959, p. 191; Otto Doppelfeld, "Das neue Kölner Diatretglas," Germania, 38, Nos. 3-4, 1960, p. 405; idem, "Das Diatretglas aus dem Gräber bezirk des römischen Gutshofs von Köln-Braunsfeld," Kölner Jahrbuch für Vor- und Frühgeschichte, 5, 1960 1961, pp. 7 ff.

25. Doppelfeld, "Das neue Kölner Diatretglas," op. cit., p. 405.

52

longed to the proprietors of the villa, and the explanation may be that the people buried there

were the producers of those precious wares and thus could afford them as burial gifts. It is even possible that the so-called "Gutshof" may have been a glassmaker's workshop, which would ex plain the lack of luxury in the house. Fremers dorf28 found no fewer than eight fireplaces in the large main hall of that building, including remnants of an oven, which may indicate that it was used for industrial purposes. Doppel feld27 believes there were three different build

ing stages for the large hall, each containing two fireplaces. Even with only two fireplaces in

the hall, the villa looks remarkably like a work shop. Its being situated outside the walls of the ancient town adds to the likelihood that it was

formerly used for manufacturing. According to

Roman law, enterprises which used furnaces and were therefore liable to catch fire, such as

potteries, glass factories, metal and leather workshops, were always situated beyond the city walls.28 If we ask who were the people buried in those large sarcophagi found in the grounds of the Köln-Braunsfeld villa, it should be noted that burials in sarcophagi instead of cremation were common among Jews as well as Christians. It is possible that the people buried on the Köln-Braunsfeld estate could therefore

have been Jews who preferred to have their graves on their own grounds rather than in the

common cemetery. In addition, Jewish graves were generally set apart from those of the main population.29

26. "Der römische Gutshof in der Stoibergerstrasse zu Köln-Braunsfeld," Bonner Jahrbücher, 135, 1930, p. 116.

27. "Das Diatretglas aus dem Gräberbezirk...,"p. 10. 28. Harald von Petrikovits, "Das römische Rhein

land. Archäologische Forschungen seit 1945," Arbeits gemeinschaft für Forschung des Landes Nordrhein Westfalen, 86, Cologne, 1960, p. 93.

29. Gustav Cohn, Der jüdische Friedhof, Frankfurt, 1930, p. 9, explains that Jews preferred the use of fam ily burying grounds, on their own estates. The Jerusa lem Talmud Baba-Batra prescribes that burial grounds be fifty ells from town.


Fig. 12. Two fragments from a bowl decorated with gold glass medallions on blue and green grounds, found in the St. Severinus cemetery, Co logne. Rhineland, 4th century A.D. Av. D. of medallions 2.8 cm. British Museum, London. (No. E.C. 629.) (Photo courtesy Trustees of The British Museum.)

In the excavated cemetery found under the St. Severin Church in Cologne, which also con tains some graves facing East, was found the gold glass dish (Morey 349) (Fig. 12) now in the British Museum, London.30 It contains twenty one medallions arranged in three incomplete concentric circles, showing inter alia the follow ing biblical scenes: Susannah or Orante, Moses striking the rock, Adam and Eve, one of the three youths in the fiery furnace, Daniel, Jonah reclining under the gourd vine, Jonah in a ship, a seated lion (perhaps belonging to Daniel), Jonah cast up by the sea monster, Jonah cast overboard, and the Sacrifice of Abraham. This

30. Morey, The Gold-Glass Collection . . . , No. 349; O. M. Dalton, Catalogue of Early Christian Antiquities and Objects from the Christian East of the British Mu seum, London, 1901, No. 629; Vopel, op. cit., No. 292; Garrucci, op. cit., Pl. CLXX, 1; E. aus 'm Weerth, "Römische Glasgefässe aus der Sammlung ... Carl Disch . . . ," Bonner Jahrbücher, XXXVI, 1864, p. 119, PI. 3; Fremersdorf, Die römischen Gläser mit aufge legten Nuppen, Cologne, 1962, p. 14, Pl. 48.

glass, which has no decidedly Christian motifs, might be regarded as a specimen of Jewish art from the Roman period. As to the cemetery it self, Kober31 suggests that it may be Jewish; Fremersdorf32 insists upon its being early Christian and of the second century A.D., while Neuss33 and Petrikovits34 cannot regard the graves as Christian.

The date of 326 A.D., when the blue gilt glass bowl (Morey 421) (Fig. 8) was probably manu factured,35 reminds one of the two edicts of Constantine dated 321 A.D. (cod. Theod. 3. XVI. 8)) and 331 A.D. (cod. Theod. 4. XVI. 8). These edicts prove the presence of Jews in Cologne. In them, members of the city's Jewish community are freed from curial duties "Hieris et Archisynagogis et Patribus synagogarum et ceteris qui eodem loco deserviunt." Hence, at the time the blue bowl was made, the city must have had a large Jewish community or the em peror would not have mentioned them in his edicts. A community justifying two imperial edicts must have had a cemetery of its own, which might be the one under the St. Severin Church. Thus one could assume, pending fur ther data, that the gold glass found in the St. Severin cemetery was Jewish and that the blue bowl was made by Jews who were buried on Jewish-owned land, possibly adjacent to a glass workshop.

These craftsmen may also have been the man ufacturers of the cage-cup found in another grave in the Köln-Braunsfeld plot. The tech nique of cage-cups is described as early as the Talmud Midrash Esther36 and was therefore

known to Jews. This strengthens our belief

31. Adolf Kober, History of the Jews in Cologne, Philadelphia, 1940, p. 4.

32. "Ältestes Christentum," Kölner Jahrbuch für Vor- und Frühgeschichte, 2, 1956, p. 7.

33. W. Neuss, Die Anfänge des Christentums im Rheinland, Bonn, 1933.

34. Petrikovits, op. cit. 35. Delbrück, Spätantike Kaiserporträts, pp. 132 fi. 36. Doppelfeld, "Das neue Kölner Diatretglas," op.

cit., p. 410.

53


that Jewish glassmakers lived and worked in Cologne.

Fremersdorf37 explains that in 160 A.D. new workshops using the snake-thread and gold glass techniques were founded in Cologne. This may have been when the first Jewish glass makers arrived, and it is also the period of the oldest graves in the St. Severin cemetery. These Jews would presumably have arrived as prison ers of war, since their colony "is said to have originated in the move of a [Roman] legion from Jerusalem."38 We may thus summarize the situation : after the Parthian war, in which they

participated,39 Jews, and possibly among them glassmakers, were brought to Cologne to form the first Jewish community in Germany.40 With

their arrival, coinciding with the beginning of the St. Severin cemetery and with the general flourishing of glass production in that town, more complicated and not previously used techniques, such as snake threads, cage-cups, and gold glasses were produced.

It can be asserted that wherever gold or gilded glasses have been found, a fairly large Jewish community lived in the area. This ap plies to Rome, Dura-Europos, Palestine (where the Rothschild bowl is said to have been ac

quired), Ostia, Kertch, Olbia, and Apulia. Apulia can trace its Jewish population to

about 4 B.C. (Josephus Ant. XVII, 12, 1), when

37. Römische Gläser mit Fadenauflage . . . , p. 17. 38. John Parkes, A History of the Jewish People,

Harmondsworth, Middlesex, 1964, p. 38; Monumenta Judaica, 2000 Jahre Geschichte und Kultur der Juden am Rhein, Cologne, 1963, Part A, p. 33.

39. Max L. Margolis and Alexander Marx, A History of the Jewish People, New York, 1962, p. 220, "Under Marcus Aurelius (161-180 A.D.) and the co-emperor Verus (161-169 A.D.) the Parthian king Vologases III invaded Cappadocia and Syria. It seems that among certain elements of the Jews in Palestine an attempt was made to turn these complications to their advan tage. The Parthians, however, were beaten, and Verus punished the Jews."

40. Until now the only archaeological find confirm ing the presence of Jews in the Rhineland is a terra cotta lamp with a menorah found in Trier (Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Trier, No. ST 2105).

54

there were Jews in Pozzuoli. In the days of Honorius the Jewish population of Apulia and Calabria must have been considerable, as the

emperor abolished the curial freedom of Jews in an edict of 398 A.D.41 Only a large number of

Jewish citizens would make such an edict nec essary. In addition, there were Jewish cata combs in Venosa in Apulia.42 The Canosa bowls (Fig. 3) were found in Apulia.

If we believe that the gold glass technique was developed in Alexandria, we may point out that this city also had an old Jewish commu nity.43 Glasses either mounted or decorated with gold were used at the festive procession of

Ptolemy II Philadelphus (see page 48), whose father had brought many Jewish slaves to Egypt in the years 320, 302 and 301 B.C.44 It would be tempting to link the presence of these

Jewish slaves to the development of a glass in dustry. But no evidence exists to prove it.

The gold glass technique, combining the skill of a goldsmith, a potter and a glassmaker is pos sibly alluded to in the Midrash raba Numeri45 written at the end of the first millennium but

based on earlier sources. In it a man is described

who had three professions: he was a goldsmith, a potter, and a glassmaker. Those who loved him called him a goldsmith's son and those who hated him, a potter's son. Those indifferent to him called him a glassmaker's son. This permits also the evaluation of the glassmaker in Talmu dic society: he was thought of as quite ordinary.

Finally, the Greek inscription on the Brescia medallion appears to have been written in an Egyptian Greek dialect, possibly suggesting

41. Jewish Encyclopedia, New York, 1901, 2, p. 29. 42. Harry J. Leon, "The Jews of Venusia," Jewish

Quarterly Review, 44, 1954, pp. 267 ff. 43. A. von Saldern, "Glass Finds at Gordion," op.

cit., p. 46; Rostovtzeff, Social and Economic History . . . , I, p. 372.

44. Victor Tcherikover, Hellenistic Civilization and the Jews, Philadelphia, 1959, pp. 55 ff.

45. Levy, Wörterbuch über den Talmud und Mid rashim, I, p. 512; Samuel Krauss, Talmudische Archäo logie, Leipzig, 1910-1912, II, p. 285.


that it was made in the Fayum, where there were many Jewish settlers (Fig. 7).48

Jewish slaves are mentioned on an inscrip tion in Kertch,47 the ancient Panticapaeum west of the Straits which connects the Black Sea and

the Sea of Azor. In this town a Jewish commu nity was established as far back as the first cen tury B.C.48 Rostovtzeff49 thinks that the first Jewish settlers were brought there by Mithri dates (88 B.C.). The Jewish population of Kertch is of interest since the gilded glass pitch er representing the metamorphosis of Daphne (Fig. 4) was found there.50 The Daphne pitcher is related in technique and stylistically to the Dura-Europos fragment showing the head of Thetis, to the more recent, unpublished finds in

Nahariya, Israel, and at Palmyra,51 and to the Kantharos Disch found in Cologne.52 Baur53 is inclined to date the Thetis fragment and the Daphne pitcher at about 230 A.D. and, as oth ers before him, Clairmont attributes both to an

Antioch workshop.54 Whether any connection can be made between these painted vessels and the Jewish population of Antioch and Kertch remains to be proven. The possibility of a rela tionship should, however, not be dismissed.

Another example of gold glass which may have been made by a Jew is the one, No. 8 (Fig. 13),55 in the Frühchristlich-Byzantinischer

46. Morey, Early Christian Art, pp. 127, 221, note 246; Tcherikover, op. cit., p. 285.

47. Tcherikover, op. cit., p. 342. 48. Frey, "Corpus inscriptionum iudaicarum," op.

cit., Nos. 683-684. 49. Iranians and Greeks in South Russia, Oxford,

1922, p. 150. 50. V. Müller, "Die Typen der Daphnedarstellun

gen," op. cit., p. 63; R. W. Smith, Glass from the Ancient World, No. 342; Harden, "Glass and Glazes," in Singer, History of Technology, II, p. 343.

51. Selim Abdul Hak, "Les verres peints de la pé riode romaine, conservés au Musée National de Damas," op. cit., pp. 21-24.

52. Albizzati, "Il Kantharos Disch," Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, 41, 1926, p. 74.

53. Baur, et al., op. cit., p. 252. 54. Clairmont, op. cit., pp. 34-35, 149. 55. Frey, op. cit., No. 522.

Fig. 13. Catalog No. 8:

Sammlung, Berlin. It has Jewish symbols such as the Torah-shrine, and the menorah, and

bears the inscription "SALBO • DOMINO VITALE CUM CONIVGE • ET FILIO S •

IPSORV • FELIX • BENERIVS," meaning "Felix Venerius to his master Vitalis—may he be in good health—with his wife and their chil dren." Leon explains that the word dominus is a form of address used by a slave.56 Hence this gold glass may have been dedicated to a Jewish master by a Jewish glassmaker, as it is likely that a J ew would have been more familiar than a Gentile with the motifs depicted. We learn of a presumably Jewish glass work

shop from a glass first described by Schwabe Reifenberg.57 It is a small pressed medallion with the menorah and the inscription "EX OF. LAVRENTI," the mark of a workshop, in this case a Jewish one, as the menorah is always used to indicate a person of Jewish faith. A simi lar inscription, "OFFIKINA (L) AURENTIV," on a green colored glass has been found togeth er with a coin of the Emperor Gratian (375-383 A.D.) at Hermes (Ham) in France.58

56. Harry J. Leon, The Jews of Ancient Rome, Phil adelphia, 1960, p. 238. 57. Mosche Schwabe, Adolf Reifenberg, "Ein jü

disches Goldglas mit Sepulcralinschrift," Rivista di Archeologia Cristiana, 12, 1935, pp. 341-345. 58. Kisa, op. cit., p. 952, No. 138.

55


A Jewish community existed in Rome since Pompey brought back a large number of Jewish prisoners with him (69-63 B.C.). Most gold glasses were found in Roman catacombs. Morey50 thinks that the earlier examples of this group were made in what he calls the "fine brushed" technique.

Harden80 points out that a glass dish with an engraved picture of Venus with two cupids is an exact replica of the gold glass Morey No. 10.81 This suggests the general use of patterns which were shown to pagan, Christian, and Jewish customers, who chose according to their taste.

One gold glass82 (Frey 732), bears an epitaph in Greek of a mother and daughter as well as the Hebrew word Shalom (Peace). It was for merly in a private collection in Rome.88 No de tailed information on this piece is available and it is not included in Morey's catalogue.

Gold glass cups were drinking vessels used to adorn graves in the catacombs, a type of burial of Palestinian origin. In this connection one should recall that most early Christians came from Jewish stock. Later, when the catacombs were no longer used, the production of gold glass ceased and we find mention of later gold glasses only in literary sources such as Hera clius, Theophilus,84 and the late Talmudic midrashim.65

That gold glasses were intended as drinking vessels and not as epitaphs is indicated by the many that bear the inscriptions "pie zeses"

59. Morey, Early Christian Art, p. 127. 60. Harden, "The Wint Hill Hunting Bowl," Journal

of Glass Studies, II, 1960, p. 74, Fig. 26. 61. Morey, The Gold-Glass Collection . . . , p. 4, No.

10; Vopel, op. cit., No. 49; Garrucci, op. cit., Pl. XXXVI, 3.

62. Schwabe, Reifenberg, op. cit., pp. 341, 345; Frey, op. cit., No. 732.

63. Leon, The Jews of Ancient Rome, p. 223. 64. Trowbridge, op. cit., p. 110. 65. Levy, Wörterbuch über den Talmud und Mid

rashim, I, p. 512; S. Krauss, Talmudische Archäologie, Leipzig, 1910-1912, II, p. 285.

56


(drink and live) or "bibas" (drink). In Cologne,06 as in the catacombs of Rome, it was customary to place such richly adorned cups beside the sarcophagus or outside the grave in the wall of the loculi. This enabled the dead, when they rose in the days of the Messiah, to participate in the meal prepared for the righteous.

The religious significance of the Jewish ex amples is borne out by their symbols: the open Torah-shrine and the lighted menorah. Two of them depict in their lower register the Sabbath meal including a plate of fish, No. 7 (Fig. 14),07 and No. 8 (Fig. 13).68 We can understand this scene better when we remember that Rabbi

Chanina bar Jizchak, who lived in the third cen tury A.D. in Palestine, said that the Sabbath was the image of the world to come. And so these pictures take on another meaning; they do not only depict Jewish life in ancient Rome but

show the yearning of the Jews for the days of the Messiah, when every one of the faithful will

66. Fremersdorf, "Ein bisher unbekanntes römisches Goldglas mit christlichen Wunderszenen . . . Wallraf Richartz Jahrbuch, 1, 1930, p. 282; idem, "Der rö mische Gutshof in der Stoibergerstrasse zu Köln Braunsfeld," Bonner Jahrbücher, 135, 1930, pp. 109 ff.

67. Morey, The Gold-Glass Collection . . . , No. 458; C. Louise Avery, "Early Christian Goldglass," Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, XVI, 1921, p. 173; Vopel, op. cit., No. 163; Frey, op. cit., No. 518.

68. Frey, op. cit., No. 522.


participate in the felicities of a future life.69

The scenes on Jewish gold glasses give a fair picture of the religious and sometimes the secu lar life of the Jews. On No. 8 we even find steps leading to the Ark of Law similar to those that have recently been excavated in the fourth-cen tury synagogue of Ostia.70

The gold glass No. 2 (Fig. 15) (Morey 116),71 with the Temple in Jerusalem and bearing a Greek inscription, must be considered a re minder of the messianic days when the glory of the destroyed temple would arise anew. This glass may be a little earlier than the others, as its inscription is in Greek. It is not the only exam ple with temple architecture. Vopel (No. 160) mentions a smaller one which was found in S.

Ermete in Rome. The gold glass dishes in

69. Erwin R. Goodenough, Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period, Vol. Il: The Archaeological Evi dence from the Diaspora, Bollingen Series, XXXVII, New York, 1953. Editor's Note: Since this article was received Volume 12, 1965, has been published. Gold glasses are dealt with in several places but specially pp. 37-39.

70. Maria Floriani Squarciapino, "The Synagogue at Ostia," Archaeology, 16, 1963, No. 3. It is interesting to note that gold glasses Morey Nos. 229-233 were found in or around Ostia. Morey No. 115 is said to have been found at Ostia, cf. Leon, The Jews of Ancient Rome, p. 221.

71. Morey, The Gold-Glass Collection . . . , No. 116; Vopel, op. cit., No. 159; F. Rossi, "Verre représentant le Temple de Jerusalem," Archives de l'Orient Latin, 2, 1884, pp. 439-455.


Olbia72 and in Moscow,73 which both belong to the earlier stage of gold glass history, show pic tures of antique temples. No. 2 is said to have been found about 1882 in the Christian cata

comb of Peter and Marcellinus in Rome, but

Marucchi74 thinks that it came from a Jewish catacomb of the Via Labicana (now Via Casi lina), a short distance from the Peter and Mar

cellinus cemetery. The Via Labicana catacomb, of which no trace remains, was found in 1882

and explored by Marucchi two years later. When he found the picture of a menorah he realized that it was Jewish.

We can assume from Mueller's description of the Jewish Monteverde catacomb in Rome, where one gold glass showing a man sitting on a throne was found in situ, that symbols other than Jewish were used for the decoration of the

graves.7"' This suggests that gold glasses bearing biblical scenes,70 portraits,77 animals,78 pictures

of daily life,70 or mere inscriptions80 may have come from Jewish catacombs or could possibly be regarded as Jewish.

72. Rostovtzeff, Social and Economic History . . . , I, p. 373.

73. Moscow Archaeological Museum, formerly Go leniscev Collection; Rostovtzeff, Social and Economic History . . . , I, p. 373, Pl. XLIV, Fig. 2.

74. Marucchi, Le catacombe romane, Rome, 1905, p. 292; Leon, The Jews of Ancient Rome, p. 222, Note 4.

75. Nikolaus Müller, Die jüdische Katakomben am Monteverde zu Rom, Leipzig, 1912, p. 59.

76. Morey, The Gold-Glass Collection . . . , Nos. 46-47, 71, 139, 142-144, 153-156, 207, 349, 395, 407, 421.

77. Morey, ibid., Nos. 1-7, 9, 39-43, 54, 59, 87, 89, 92-95, 97, 99, 113, 193, 195, 222, 234, 237, 238, 244, 259, 264, 266, 289, 300, 311, 405, 406, 418, 421, 423, 440, 442, 446, 447.

78. Morey, ibid., Nos. 34, 123, 140, 169, 171, 196, 198, 229, 382, 392, 410, 422, 428, 434, 443.

79. Morey, ibid., Nos. 25, 27, 28, 35, 96, 119, 236, 257, 263, 302, 429, and a gold glass showing a quad riga, in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, cf. Christine Alexander, "A Gilt Glass of the Roman Pe riod," Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, XXVI, 1931, p. 288.

80. Morey, ibid., Nos. 19, 20-24, 129, 175, 202-204, 208-209, 229-233 (from Ostia), 275, 409, 419, 424, 445; Schwabe, Reifenberg, op. cit., p. 341.

57


The provenience of most gold glasses is ob scure. The approximately thirty-two for which it is known came from Christian cemeteries.

Lietzmann,81 who excavated the Jewish cata comb in the Villa Torlonia, found traces of gold glasses in the walls but none in situ. Mueller82 described the gold glass which he found in situ as being without a second layer to protect the painting, which thus quickly deteriorated. Pos sibly a technique similar to that used in Cologne was employed here.

It is very difficult to distinguish between Jew ish and Early Christian objects of this period. Both go back to Hellenistic and Roman forms and are part of Late Roman art; both use the same themes, mostly centered around the hope for a life beyond the grave. Lietzmann83 points out that the early Christians often depicted Old Testament deliverance scenes side by side, such as Abraham's sacrifice, Noah in the Ark, Daniel in

the lion's den, the three men in the fiery furnace,

Susannah and Jonah. This cycle goes back to one of the oldest Jewish prayers, "Mi she ana,"84

belonging to the liturgy of the fasting period and already in use at the time of the Mishna. Lietzmann85 believes that Christians not only borrowed the prayer using these biblical exam ples of heavenly salvation, which are still used by Roman Catholic priests administering the last rites, but that they took over the iconogra phy as well. This would explain why the gilded glass bowl (Fig. 8) bearing some of these "salva tion" scenes was identified as "Early Christian."

81. H. W. Beyer and Hans Lietzmann, Die jüdische Katakombe der Villa Torlonia in Rom, Berlin-Leipzig, 1930, p. 3.

82. Nikolaus Müller, op. cit., p. 59. 83. Lietzmann, A History of the Early Church, New

York, 1961, II, p. 142. 84. Ismar Elbogen, Der jüdische Gottesdienst, 1913,

pp. 223, 551, Note 3; Michel, "Gebet und Bild in früh christlicher Zeit," Archäologische Studien zum christ lichen Altertum und Mittelalter, New Series, 1, Frei burg, 1902; Kaufmann, "Sens et origine tumulaires de kancient Testament dans l'art chrétien," Revue des Etudes Juives, XIV, 1887, p. 33.

85. A History of the Early Church, II, p. 143.

58

ff "s. Jf %,

-m ■;

Fig. 16. Gold glass medallion, found in 1688 in the Ponziano cemetery in Rome. Roman, 4th century A.D. D. 9.8 cm. Museo Sacro, Vatican City. (No. 357.)

In Jewish as well as in Christian art, animals were given symbolic meanings. The best known is the fish symbolizing Christ. The gold glass (Morey 34) (Fig. 16)86 found in 1688 in the cemetery of Ponziano, with the picture of an ass running to the right and the inscription ASINUS, could have belonged to a group of gold glasses with symbols of Jewish tribes, as the ass personifies Isachar. It could have had a messianic meaning as well, as the Messiah is supposed to arrive riding an ass.87 Here, too, an earlier and specific Jewish design may have been copied.

We know since the excavations of some

Palestinian synagogues with mosaic floors,88 and from the wall paintings of the Dura-Eu ropos synagogue,80 that Jews of that period did not hesitate to use biblical scenes for the adorn

ment of their synagogues. This makes it the more difficult to attribute gold glasses that do not bear designs characteristic of Jewish or Christian art.

86. Morey, The Gold-Glass Collection . . . , No. 34, p. 9; Vopel, op. cit., No. 148; Garrucci, op. cit., Pl. XXXVII, 10.

87. Traktat Brachot Nos. 56B and 57; Moritz Zobel, Gottes Gesalbter, Berlin, 1938, p. 83.

88. See Note 22.

89. See Note 23.


Conclusion

From the frequent mention of glass in the Talmud90 and the appearance of Jewish glass makers in contemporary sources,91 we know that glassmaking was practiced by Jewish craftsmen. We have only treated part of the ac tivities of these ancient Jewish glassmakers; namely, the role they may have played in the diffusion of the gold glass technique. Even when we could not trace the creators them

selves, we have attempted to show that gold glasses were used in areas where a fairly well developed Jewish community existed and that gilded glasses appear to have been especially favoured by the Jewish population. Only future research and the discovery of new material from sound excavated contexts will prove the validity of the hypothesis that a large propor tion of gold glasses known were made by Jewish craftsmen.

CATALOG

No. 1. (Fig. 17.) Fragment of a bowl. On the body of the vessel, an engraved and gilt Torah-shrine with the menorah flanked by shofar and etrog. The open shrine, with six compartments for the scroll and one bird perched above left door. No glass overlay.

Inscription: NIMADU Morey 115; Vopel 493; Frey 520; Good enough 968. Said to have come from Kertch.

Vatican Library. (No. 239.)

No. 2. (Fig. 15.) Gold glass showing a tetrastyled temple inside a court surrounded by colonnades. In front of the temple a lighted menorah. Outside the court

90. Krauss, Talmudische Archäologie, II, 1910, p. 285.

91. Trowbridge, op. cit., pp. 113-114, 197. Acknowledgements: I am greatly indebted to Dr. D. B. Harden for his advice and encouragement during the preparation of this study, and to many colleagues who supplied information and photographs.


are huts which may suggest the festival of the booths, Succoth.

Found in 1882 in the cemetery of SS. Pietro e Marcellinus in Rome, but may have come from the Jewish catacomb of the Via Labicana lo cated nearby.

Inscription: OIKOCIPH C AA BEEVAOriA and C(i)IIANT(i)N

Morey 116; Vopel 159; Frey 515; Good enough 978. Vatican Library. (No. 479.)

No. 3. Similar to No. 2.

Found in S. Ermete, Rome.

Vopel 160; Römische Quartalschrift für Christliche Altertumskunde und für Kir chengeschichte, VIII, 1894, p. 142. (Present whereabouts unknown.)

No. 4. (Fig. 1.) Gold glass bottom divided into two semicircu lar registers. The above showing two sitting lions facing the open Torah-shrine with six scrolls. Below, two lighted menorahs flanked by two shofars and lulav, etrogs, and an oil jar.

Inscription: ANAS TAS I-P IEZ E SES Morey 114; Vopel 161; Frey 516; Good enough 965. Vatican Library. (No. 233.)

No. 5. (Fig. 18.) Similar to No. 4 but in a square instead of a round frame.

Inscription: PIEZESES ELARES Vopel 162; Frey 517; Goodenough 966.

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Former Zealinska Collection, Paris; Castle Goluchow Collection, Poland. Israel Museum, Jerusalem.

No. 6. (Fig. 19.) Gold glass showing in the upper half the Torah-shrine, where nine scrolls are ranged on three shelves. A pair of birds perched on globes act as guardians. The lower part has a lighted menorah, its center flanked by two lions crouching back to back.

Vopel 165; Goodenough 967. Former Museo Borgiano Collection, Rome; Goluchow Collection, Poland. Israel Museum, Jerusalem.


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No. 7. (Fig. 14.) Gold glass bottom divided into two registers. Above, Torah-shrine containing four scrolls; to the right lighted menorah, shofar and etrog. In the lower register a dish with a fish on a cushion.

Inscription: IBIBASCVMEVLOGIACOR(?)P... Morey 458; Vopel 163; Frey 518; Good enough 973; Avery, p. 173. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Rogers Fund, 1918. (No. 18.145.1a, b.)

No. 8. (Fig. 13.) Gold glass bottom similar to No. 7 but showing twenty scrolls in the open Torah-shrine, and more clearly the lower register with the semi circular couch and a small table on which lies

a platter containing fish. This gold glass bears what may be the signa

ture of the artist, Felix Venerius, who may have been a slave.

Inscription: SALBO • DOMINO VITALE

CUM CONIVGE • ET FILIO S • IPSORV •

FELIX • BENERIVS

Frey 522; Goodenough 974. Staatliches Museum, Berlin. (No. 6700.)

No. 9. (Fig. 20.) Lower part of a gold glass showing a menorah, oil jar, shofar, etrog and lulav. Inscription: . . . LV • PIE • ZESES • Morey 346; Dalton 615; Vopel 164; Frey 519; Goodenough 970. British Museum, London.

No. 10. (Fig. 21.) Upper part of a broken gold glass showing a menorah and lulav.

Inscription: AVXANONANIMADVLCIS.. .PIEZESES

Morey 426; Goodenough 975; Schwabe-Reif enberg, Riv. Arch. Crist, XV, 1938, p. 319 ff.; Ferrua, Riv. Arch. Crist, XXVI, 1950, p. 224 ff. Römisch-Germanisches Museum, Cologne.


Fig. 20 Fig. 22 Fig. 23

Fig. 21 Fig. 24

!* 1




i



No. 11. (Fig. 22.) Fragment of a medallion with a lion reclining beside a menorah; part of a second lion seen on right.

Morey 433; Vopel 166; Goodenough 971. Universitaetsmuseum, Würzburg.

No. 12. (Fig. 23.) Medallion showing shofar flanked by lulav.

Morey 173; Vopel 167; Goodenough 976. Vatican Library. (No. 237.)

No. 13.

Bottom of a flask with a Greek inscription with the addition of the word Shalom (peace) in

Hebrew letters and the picture of a menorah and shofar gilded on the exterior.

This is the only gold glass having a sepulchral

inscription and the only one bearing Hebrew letters. The inscription reads in translation: "Here lie Anastasia, the mother and Asther, the

daughter. In peace their sleep. Amen. Shalom." (The exceptional nature of this object would make its careful study desirable. It is included in this list with the hope that further light may be shed on its puzzling nature.)

Frey 732; Goodenough 962; Schwabe-Reifen berg, op. cit., XII, 1935, p. 341. Private Collection, Rome.

No. 14. (Fig. 24.) Gold glass fragment showing a menorah with a lighted candle.

Inscription: EZ TVOS Morey 359; Frey 521; Goodenough 972. Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.

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Corning Museum of Glass A NOTE ON JEWISH GOLD … · A NOTE ON JEWISH GOLD GLASSES Irmgard Schüler...

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