A Byzantine Amber Glass Bottle Late 6th/Early 7th Century C.E.

with flaring mouth and rounded rim, the hexagonal body mold-blown in sunk relief with Jewish symbols, comprising a menorah with flames on a tripod stand, a cruciform element with a stylized heart-shaped leaf at the end of each arm and a horizontal crossbar at the intersection with a loop at each end, two concentric lozenges with a recessed dot at each corner of the panel, two concentric lozenges bordered by small recessed dots and with a crescent in each corner of the panel, an empty aedicula consisting of columns with double-tiered bases and cushion-shaped capitals supporting a half-round arch decorated with recessed dots, and a stylized palm tree.

Probably the Zagayski Collection
Davidowitz Collection

New York, Museum of Jewish Heritage, September 1997-November 2001
New York, Hebrew Union College, Jewish Institute of Religion, The Collector's Room: Selections from the Michael and Judy Steinhardt Collection, 1993, no. 103

Cissy Grossman, The Collector's Room: Selections from the Michael and Judy Steinhardt Collection, 1993, p. 34, no. 103

RELATED LITERATURE
Dan Barag, "Glass Pilgrim Vessels from Jerusalem", Journal of Glass Studies, 1970, vol. XII, p. 35-63, fig. 19

Adolf Reifenberg, Ancient Hebrew Arts, 1950, p. 153

Cecil Roth, Jewish Art: an Illustrated History, 1961, p. 243, no. 98

E. Marianne Stern, The Toledo Museum of Art, Roman Mold-blown Glass, the First Through Sixth Centuries, 1995, p. 247-269. no. 173

Very good and intact. Residue from old label and traces of a red painted inventory number underneath. Label fallen off but present, marked NY MJS 111.
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This jar belongs to Barag's class B V, a group of hexagonal jars with an identical motif.