Stručni rad
Alexandros the Glassmaker
Ivo Fadić
Sažetak
Relief marks on antique glass recipients are extremely interesting for research of the glass making,regardless whether it was a sign for a glass workshop, glassmaker or the manufacturer of the contentskept in them.Marks with the manufacturer’s names (or only the initials) are found on the square jugs. As a rulethey were written in Latin alphabet, and so far these were noted on the Croatian coastal area: P(ublius)ACCIUS ALCINUS (or ALCINO), L(ucius) AEMILIUS BLASIUS (or BLASTIUS), C(aius) SALVIUS GRATUS andC(neius) POMPEIUS CASSIANUS, and the initials CSOR.Relief imprints of the names in Greek alphabet at the bottom of the square - bodied jugs arevery rare. Sixteen Greek names on twenty prismatic jugs, together with one hexagonal and threeoctagonal examples are known in the Roman Empire so far. Another example from the ancient portin Resnik near Trogir should be added to this example. It has a name AΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ written in genitiv(AΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ) at the bottom.Alexandros is the most frequent Greek name found so far at the bottom of the jugs with squarebodies. Three examples of bottoms with this name are registered in the Roman Empire. First knownjug with quadratic shaped body with the name Aλεξανδρος that was published in the early 20thcentury by A. Kisa and M. L. Trowbridge and G. L. Jacobson eventually, originates from Rome. Onesuch bottom was found in Aquileia and one is kept in the British Museum, and is published by S. H.Auth in a note as a comparative example for the octagonal jug kept in the Newark Museum with thename Πριςκος (from Palestine?). Origin of the example from the British Museum is not noted so it ispossible that it was brought from the eastern part of the Empire. Unfortunately, bottom with the reliefmark of this name from Rome was not illustrated, and jug from England was not published at all (as faras I am aware). M. C. Calvi publishes one drawing of the bottom of the Aquileia fi nd, so it can be usedfor the comparative and paleographic analysis of the text (fi gure 1).So, besides the aforementioned three examples, one better-preserved bottom with the relief markwith the name of Alexandros (Aλεξανδρος) was found in the province of Dalmatia, or in the ancientport of Resnik near Trogir. The bottom belongs to the green-yellow glass jug with square body (fi gure2). Relief letters are written (in positive) within two concentric relief circles, as was the case with mostof the aforementioned marks with Greek names (fi gure 3). Impression of the tool used for holdingthe jug while shaping the upper part of the container can be seen in the centre of the square bottom.Preserved bottom width is 9 x 9 cm. The letters are large, very regular and legible. Their height is about1.5 cm. The name of the glassmaker is given in genitive (AΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ) as is the case with all the othermarks with Alexandros’ name on them.The letters of the comparative Aquileian examples are inattentively made, more rustic andirregular compared to the Resnik text. They are written as a refl ection, to be more precise they werestamped as a refl ection on the positive from the mould. Only the letter sigma was made in positive,but it was written as a refl ecting cursive epsilon. Ligature is noticed with the letters ΛE and AN, and itis possible that ligature also had the ending letters of the names in genitive that were not preserved -PO or OY (considering that there was not enough space for the three letters). It is also interesting thatthe Aquileian example has alpha with broken horizontal hasta, as is the case with alpha on the reliefstamp at the bottom from Resnik near Trogir.It is very diffi cult at this stage of research to answer the question in which glass-blowing centresthese square jugs were made. It is possible that in the Early Imperial period numerous glassmakersfrom the east opened their shops on the Italian peninsula, because that is where the largest numberof bottoms of square jugs with Greek names and alphabet were found. However, these bottoms wereusually found with single examples of names, so it is very diffi cult to discuss their place of origin. It ispossible that this Croatian example came to the port of Resnik from the east Mediterranean, possiblySiria, or what is more likely from some Italian workshop. Considering the fact that large number ofjugs with quadratic bodies was not found in the ancient part of the port, it is most probable that the found bottom did not belong to the ship cargo, but it belonged to the ship’s or the crew’s equipment.It is hard to believe based only on one fi nd that the jug was manufactured in ancient Salona.Time of the manufacture of the square jug with stamped name AΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ can be defi nedbased on the whole set of elements. As other examples of bottoms with Greek names, this one differsin quality and colour of glass from the usual square jugs popular in the western part of the RomanEmpire that are especially numerous in the area of ancient Zadar (Jader), Nin (Aenona) and Podgrađe(Asseria). These are dated in the second half of the 1st and the 2nd century AD. On the other hand, it isanalogous to the rare Early Christian examples with the relief of the Christ’s monogram and the cross,although it is not a product of the 3rd or 4th century. Most probably, Aλεξανδρος the glassmaker hadhis workshop where he manufactured also the square jugs with his name around the middle of the1st century AD.
Ključne riječi
province of Dalmatia; Resnik; Roman glass; square jug; glassmaker; Alexandros
Hrčak ID:
8312
URI
Datum izdavanja:
1.12.2006.
Posjeta: 2.646 *