Advanced Search 
Vessel
Jug
Vessel
Byzantine
Byzantine
6th–8th century
Object Place: Middle East, Turkey
Medium/Technique
Copper and tinned copper (100% copper, traces of lead, tin and zinc)
Dimensions
20.5 x 13.5 cm (8 1/16 x 5 5/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Richard R. Wagner
Accession Number1972.1037
CollectionsEurope, Ancient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsMetalwork
DescriptionRare copper alloy jug, used as a kettle; one of the finest surviving examples of the type. Jug The jug with has a cylindrical bowl tapering slightly downward, horizontal shoulder, narrow tapered neck, square-sectioned handle, chain, and lid. Body hammered, repoussé and tinned. The body comprises two pieces: the raised bowl soldered to the shoulder and raised neck. A circular band (30 mm. diam.) is soldered to the center of the slightly concave base. Repoussé spokes radiating from the center, with three concentric rows of dots alternating with concentric bands of broken lines, decorate the shoulder. Wrapped around the neck is a tinned band of three ovals, each with an armless frontal bust wearing a debased garment decorated with irregular horizontal lines. The beardless figures - probably emperors - wear crowns (the central one with a protruding cross) and short pendulia. The handle is attached with a rivet to a thin copper band around the neck and by the wire ends of the ornamental band that are wrapped around it. The lid - a ring with a circular piece soldered into the middle - is fastened to the top of the handle by a copper chain attached through holes fitted with looped cotter pins.
Provenance1972, gift of Richard R. Wagner (b. 1907 - d. 2002), West Barnstable, MA, to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 13, 1972)