Two Fragments of Glass Vessels Adorned with Gold from Poetovio

Abstract

in the collection of the museum of the town of Ptuj two fragments of glass vessels adorned with gold have been preserved which are the only known pieces of this kind of glass from all the neighbouring finding places. The fragment registered in the inventory under No. 962 was found by chance in 1916 on the parcel of land No. 290 of the community Zgornji Breg near Ptuj. It is 5 cm broad and represents the bottom of a cup that had an inlaid gold lamella with an engraved lamb couchant. This type of glass vessels is a characteristic product of Roman artisans in the period between the end of the second and the beginning of the sixth century. This technique which came most probably from the East can be found represented most frequently in Rome. The elements that can help us in our endeavours to date such vessels adorned with gold are the chrono[1]logy based on data supplied by the excavations in catacombs, differences in the development of the style, the epigrapliic elements, and the old Christian symbols. In the earliest period we find represented above all various mythological and idyllic scenes: later, however, the Christian motifs become prevalent. These general data may help us in our interpretation of the fragment: it probably represents an idyllic pastoral scene, and its style may point approxi[1]mately into the 3rd century. The fragment was found in that town quarter of the Roman Poetovio which consisted mainly of villas from the 2nd to the 4th century. The fragment registered in the inventory under No. 984 is in an extremely poor state of preservation. The only knowledge we have about it is that it comes from Ptuj. It is 5 cm large and it again represents in all probability a fragment of the bottom of a cup made of a thin colourless glass with an opaque white irisation. Its upper stratum into which the volute frame was inlaid with an inscription in two lines made of a gold thread shows a state of a complete decay; the same is true for the frame and the inscription whose only readable characters are OMO. The oldest picture which exists of this fragment and which was made by Skrabar shows this object in a better state of preservation with the characters VALE still visible in the second line.