Byzantine Period Mold-Blown Light Honey Color Glass Jug

Extremely fine Byzantine mold-blown light honey-color glass jug of hexagonal shape, with trailed handle, cylindrical neck and snake thread decoration. A six-pointed star adorns the base which also bears a pontil mark. The six side panels are decorated with lozenge patterns, impressed lattice patterns and palmette motifs. The superb quality of this jug suggests it was blown into a virgin mold.

Whose hands held this vase when it was new, as ours can hold it still? Did that person have dreams, passions and goals so very different from our own? The passage of centuries has changed so much since then, and though the jug has grown lovelier--touched gently by the hand of time--much else has vanished. At the very least, however, we share with that ancient life an appreciation for the vessel's beauty.