U Arheološkom muzeju u Splitu čuvaju se raznorodni primjerci materijalne kulture antike koji potječu iz Aserije. Posebno mjesto zauzimaju predmeti od keramike i stakla, koji su u taj muzej stizali otkupom, poglavito između dva svjetska rata. Revizijom sitne građe, koju su izvršili djelatnici Arheološkog muzeja u Splitu, ustanovljeno je da se u tom muzeju čuva preko 260 staklenih primjeraka aserijatske provenijencije. Među tim staklenim predmetima nalazi se i konična čaša puhana u kalup s reljefnim nizovima lotosova pupoljka i četiri kazališne maske. [...]The cemetery of Roman Asseria has never been archaeologically excavated. Despite this fact, the Archaeological Museum in Split contains various objects from it, particularly of pottery and glass, acquired by purchase, mostly between the two world wars. Revisory analysis of the museum holdings by curators has established that the Archaeological Museum in Split contains over 260 glass specimens of Asserian provenience. A special place among these glass objects is held by the already well-known conical mould blown beaker with a relief motif of “lotus buds” and four
theatrical masks /Fig. 1, 2/. [...

Ivo Fadić

HRČAK - Portal of Croatian Scientific and Professional Journals

Croatian

GLASSS BEAKER WITH LOTUS BUDS FROM ASSERIA

Hrčak - Portal of scientific journals of Croatia

93ASSERIA, 3, 2005., 75-98 Ivo FADIÆ, Èaša s lotosovim pupoljcima iz AserijeIvo FadiæGLASS BEAKER WITH LOTUS BUDS FROM ASSERIASummaryThe cemetery of Roman Asseria has never been archaeologically excavated. Despite thisfact, the Archaeological Museum in Split contains various objects from it, particularly of potteryand glass, acquired by purchase, mostly between the two world wars. Revisory analysis of the mu-seum holdings by curators has established that the Archaeological Museum in Split contains over260 glass specimens of Asserian provenience. A special place among these glass objects is heldby the already well-known conical mould blown beaker with a relief motif of “lotus buds” and fo-ur theatrical masks /Fig. 1, 2/.Conical beakers with lotus bud ornamentation occupy a prominent position among the typo-logical group of glass beakers. Although great terminological variety exists, I prefer the above term– beaker with lotus buds, even though the other names are also perfectly justified in terms of theappearance of several variants of relief decoration on the surface of conical beakers decorated in thismanner. On the basis of the decorative relief element, in essence a protrusion resembling a reverseddroplet, the following terms are also used: beakers with almond-shaped decoration, beakers with lo-tus buds, and beakers with knotted protrusions. The fundamental element of the decoration consistof alternately placed rows of oval protrusions that narrow towards the bottom, which is similar to alotus bud /Fig. 3: 1, 2/. Such protuberances often have a three-stepped profile /Fig. 3: 3-5/. In suchcases, the first impression of a bud or an almond is lacking, and the glass beaker begins to resemblea wooden staff with knots. Hence E. Marianne Stern rightfully considered that the creator of the be-aker had been inspired by the club of Hercules. It is interesting that occasionally the beakers exhibita combination of horizontal rows of three-stepped protrusions and a final row of simple unprofiledalmond-shaped protrusions /Fig. 3: 3/. It can be concluded that this most probably represents a copyof a metal relief decorated vessel. This is further supported by the fact that horizontally arranged re-lief hemispheres (or knobs) are often found accompanying the above “lotus bud” relief decoration/Fig. 3: 5, 6/, and sometimes the lotus buds are arranged within a rhomboid web in relief /Fig. 3: 7/.In one case, the lower part of such a beaker was decorated with a grape vine. The conical beaker wi-th lotus buds from Asseria is quite special, as in addition to rows of three-stepped lotus buds and sma-ll hemispherical relief protrusions, the lowest row also contains depictions of relief theatrical (?)94Ivo FADIÆ, Èaša s lotosovim pupoljcima iz Aserije ASSERIA, 3, 2005., 75-98masks /Fig. 1, 2/. From an entire series of combinations, especially in terms of the number of hori-zontal rows, it is possible to distinguish beakers with a simple unprofiled motif of lotus buds, whichcan be displaced along a vertical axis /Fig. 3: 1/, or arranged one below the other (very rare) /Fig. 3:2/. Another manner of decorating the surface of these beakers was a combination of simple and tri-ple profiled buds (also very rare) /Fig. 3: 3/, as well as an image of triple profiled lotus buds /Fig. 3:4/. A combination of triple profiled buds and relief hemispheres (or knobs) is common /Fig. 3: 5/,and the latter sometimes can also be profiled /Fig. 3: 6/. Aspecial and rare manner of decoration invo-lved buds within a rhomboid web /Fig. 3: 7/, and exceptional elements certainly included the highlyrare beakers with lotus buds and grape vines above the base, and beakers with triple profiled buds,relief knobs, and relief masks /Fig. 1, 2/. The number of horizontal rows on the surface of the bea-kers with lotus buds differs. Beakers with only two rows of decoration are exceptionally rare, andmost usually they had four or five, and at most six rows.It can be stated that without reference to the variants in decoration the term “beakers wi-th lotus buds” is the usual and commonly accepted name for this category of glass vessels. Theterm “beakers with almond-like decoration” can be justified only in cases with simple unprofiledalmond-shaped bosses, while the newly suggested term “beakers with knotted decoration” wouldapply only in the case of three-stepped profiled protrusions. Considering that the lotus bud was avery popular decoration in the eastern Mediterranean, and particularly in Syria where glass wasmade, and that this term for beakers decorated in this manner has long been accepted and is to so-me extent standardized, I consider that it is most suitable. The motif of lotus buds was also usedon other forms of glass vessels. It appears on glass flasks, on a glass jug /Fig. 4/, and on a rhython/Fig. 5/. Beakers with lotus buds, like the other mentioned glass forms with the same decorativemotif, were blown into a relief mould and are classified as expensive table ware. Some authorsconsider that such beakers belong to the most numerous group of mould-blown beakers. Basica-lly they appear in two sizes. Elongated examples can have a height of over 20 cm, while the hei-ght of the shorter ones measures around 12 cm. Different variants exist in both groups in the rims,however, a common element is that the edges are cut and most are gently curved and inverted. Interms of the manufacturing technique, Stern considered that the beakers from Toledo had beenblown into a four-part mould, meaning that the mould consisted of three vertical sections, whilethe fourth section was for forming the base in the shape of a disc. However, beakers are also kno-wn that were blown into moulds that consisted of only two vertical sections on the walls.Although some authors consider that beakers with lotus buds are the most numerous gro-up of mould-blown beakers, nonetheless a relatively small number have been discovered on theterritory of the Roman Empire. They have been found only in individual examples or fragments,no matter how broad their zone of production or distribution. E. M. Stern very accurately notedthat beakers with lotus buds do not appear at sites in northern Italy, but one example of an entirebeaker with lotus buds was nonetheless found at Adria. They can be found in southern Italy and95ASSERIA, 3, 2005., 75-98 Ivo FADIÆ, Èaša s lotosovim pupoljcima iz Aserijealong the Rhine River by military camps – at Asciburgium and Bonna. They are relatively nume-rous at sites in northern Switzerland, again at places where Roman legions had been stationed –Vitudurum, Vindonissa, and Augusta Rauricorum (Augst). Several beakers were also found in so-uthern Switzerland, in the canton of Tièino. Fragments of these beakers are relatively numerousin the vicinity of the military camp at Nijmegen in the Netherlands, and several examples havebeen found in England, Spain, France, and Portugal. They have also been noted in Slovenia, andin the Balkans – in Serbia and in Romania, and they have also been found in the regions along thenorthern coast of the Black Sea. Naturally, they are not unknown in the eastern Mediterranean,which was apparently the original starting point for production of mould-blown beakers with or-namentation of lotus buds.The number of conical beakers with relief buds discovered in Liburnia is not inconside-rable. One such beaker was found in Roman Osor, and one example is known from Asseria, whi-le three more come from Zadar, Nin, or Asseria. If two fragmentary beakers with lotus buds fromthe Roman harbor at Zaton are added to this number, it appears that a total of 7 conical beakerswith relief lotus decoration have been discovered in Liburnia. They all belong to the group of shortbeakers with a height of around 12-13 cm, and the diameter of the base (often with concentric cir-cles) measures approximately 4.5 cm. Differences among them are nonetheless visible in the ma-nner of decoration, indicating that they were not made in the same mould. Most probably they we-re blown into four different moulds – unprofiled lotus buds without droplet-shaped protrusions(examples from Zaton and Osor); - unprofiled lotus buds with droplet-shaped protrusions (oneexample from Zaton); - profiled lotus buds with droplet-shaped protrusions (two from Zadar, Nin,or Asseria); - and finally, profiled lotus buds with droplet-shaped protrusions and four human fi-gures in the lower section of the beaker (one from Asseria and one from Zadar, Nin, or Asseria).E. M. Stern considered that the variations in decoration were much more numerous onexamples from the western part of the Empire. She noted for the relief decoration of the easternMediterranean examples that it was formed exclusively from three-stepped knots (buds) in alter-nation with hemispherical protrusions. Thus she reached the conclusion that the beakers with sim-ple lotus buds, or those with a vertical arrangement of this ornament, were of western production.The majority of the series was nonetheless produced in the eastern Mediterranean, most probab-ly in Syria, in Sidon, where decoration with lotus buds was very popular. The site of the workshop(or workshops) in the Western Empire has not yet been located. Naturally, at this stage of resear-ch it would be premature to review the entire distribution route. In reference to the eastern Adria-tic coast, it is most likely that the examples of these beakers were imported from the eastern Me-diterranean workshops.The question of the interpretation of the conical beakers with lotus bud relief decorationwould certainly be more suitable as the subject of a separate work. But here I would like to pointout, at least in outline, some of the basic problems. The simple unprofiled decoration of lotus buds96Ivo FADIÆ, Èaša s lotosovim pupoljcima iz Aserije ASSERIA, 3, 2005., 75-98or almonds truly is not in the least reminiscent of knots of wood, not even in olive wood. On theother hand, E. M. Stern is right to recognize in the ornament of triple profiled protrusions (bud-s/almonds) knots of wood, specifically the knots on the club of Hercules. She offers comparisonswith an ara dedicated to the Roman Hercules (Greek Heracles), on which a club with knots wasdepicted, as was also the case with bronze domestic figurines, where Hercules holds a skyphos inone hand and in the other a club with knots, meaning that knots truly represented an essential de-tail of Hercules’ club. If that was the case, and as it is known that Hercules was fond of food anddrink, and was depicted in drinking contests with Dionysus, the very god of wine, it does seempossible that beakers with triple profiled lotus buds, or knots, might depict some attribute of Her-cules. Particular powers could have been attributed to such beakers. Perhaps their owners usedthem on exceptional occasions for serving special drinks, such as toasts, wardings, and so forth,calling forth the magical protection of Hercules in cases of physical weakness or illness. In thatcase these richly decorated beakers could also be called “Hercules beakers”. However, if the knotis a composite detail of the club of Hercules, why don’t all the conical beakers have triple profi-led decorative elements of alternatively placed rows of oval protrusions that narrow towards thebottom in a knotted protrusion? Why were some beakers made in a combination of unprofiledalmond-shaped and profiled knotted decoration elements? Why was such a decoration of oval pro-trusions found within a rhomboid web? And finally, what was the connection between the tripleprofiled elements of oval protrusions that narrow towards the bottom and images of human figu-res or theatrical masks?The latter, triple profiled elements of oval protrusions that narrow towards the bottom wi-th images of human figures, or theatrical masks, refers only to the exceptionally rare mentionedexamples of richly ornamented conical mould-blown beakers, one of which was found in Asseriaand is kept in the Archaeological Museum in Split, and the second was taken to the Murano Gla-ss Museum in Italy, and came from Zadar, Nin, or Asseria, while the third is part of a private co-llection – the Loeffler Collection (no. 137), and its provenience is unknown.The beaker from Asseria was made from green-blue glass. The conical body narrows to-wards the base. The rim is cut, with one engraved horizontal line below it. The height of the bea-ker with lotus buds and masks from Asseria measures 13.3 cm, the diameter of the rim is 7.2 cm,and the diameter of the base 4.1 cm. The glass is particularly thin at the bud-shaped protrusions.The surface of the beaker is decorated with five rows of three-stepped lotus buds mutually shiftedaround a vertical axis. Four rows of profiled relief hemispheres (knobs) are located between therows of buds. The fifth row contains four theatrical (?) masks in relief instead of knobs. One ma-sk has a Negroid appearance – with large ears, a high forehead and a rounded chin. The secondmask was of an elderly man with exceptionally large ears, a wrinkled brow, and heavy eyebrows.The third mask depicted a very broad face and parted hair (?), while the fourth mask representeda male figure with a luxuriant beard.97ASSERIA, 3, 2005., 75-98 Ivo FADIÆ, Èaša s lotosovim pupoljcima iz AserijeThe only direct parallels for the beaker from Asseria from throughout the entire area of theRoman Empire consist of merely another two known examples. One is a beaker that also comesfrom Liburnia, either from the cemetery of Zadar (Iader), Nin (Aenona), or Podgraða near Ben-kovac (Asseria), today kept in the Glass Museum in Murano. The second analogous beaker is ofunknown provenience, and is in the Loeffler Collection (possibly from Syria or again from the ea-stern Adriatic coast, from Dalmatia). This means that two out of three known examples are of so-uthern Liburnian provenience. Perhaps both even cam from Asseria.According to the numerous general analogies with beakers that belong to the typologicalgroup of mould-blown conical beakers with lotus bud reliefs on the surface, the rare Asserianexample can be dated to the 1st century AD, most probably in the second half. Most scholars su-pport such a chronology, although it is also suggested that such beakers could also have been inuse at the beginning of the 2nd century AD. However, examples from Pompeii and Herculanumsupport the earlier dating, as they offer a terminus ante quem of 79 AD.It is presumed that the beakers with lotus buds were originally an eastern Mediterra-nean product, but that they were most probably also manufactured in western glass work-shops. At the present state of investigation and with the abundance of variations in the reli-ef, meaning the workmanship of the mould, as well as the diverse dimensions of the bea-kers, it is difficult to locate the western production centers and the distribution routes. Thecenter of production of the more richly ornamented beakers (three-stepped bud profiles, re-lief hemispheres), which includes the examples with relief depictions of theatrical masks,should definitely be sought in the eastern Mediterranean, in Syria. It would truly be toohypothetical to consider that the beakers with lotus buds, relief knobs, and theatrical maskshad been blown in some local glass workshop on the eastern Adriatic coast, i. e. in the pro-vince of Dalmatia. However, it is quite strange that of the three known examples in the wo-rld, except for one for which the provenience is unknown (Loeffler Collection - no. 137), theother two are specifically from the region of southern Liburnia, one from Asseria and onefrom Iader, Aenona, or Asseria.The Asserian example of a glass conical mould-blown beaker with buds and masksthus represents one of three such rare specimens throughout the territory of the Roman Em-pire, and indicates the high living standards of the inhabitants in its place of use. It is espe-cially interesting that two of these three examples (the third with unknown provenience) co-me from the same area – southern Liburnia, and that both could be from Asseria. In any ca-se, there is no doubt that the beaker from Asseria belongs among costly items of glass pro-duction in the 1st century AD, as is evident from the exceptionally small number of disco-vered examples (3), along with the not very large amount of finds from the entire typologi-cal group at individual sites both in the eastern and western parts of the Empire.

GLASSS BEAKER WITH LOTUS BUDS FROM ASSERIA

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

HRČAK - Portal of Croatian Scientific and Professional Journals

Hrčak - Portal of scientific journals of Croatia