A Roman Glass Miniature Juglet, Late Roman Imperial Period, ca. late 4th century CE

This lovely little Roman glass vessel belongs to a poorly-understood class of miniature glass objects from the late Roman period. These tiny gems were usually made in blue glass and unlike most glass of the period, they were hand-worked probably by bead makers, rather than blown. This example has a blue glass handle applied to a clear-molded main body, a knob below the handle and an attached flat blue knob at the base. There are nice traces of iridescence to the body. It would have been worn as an amulet symbolizing cool water for the afterlife. Background:  There is some conjecture that these glass vessels were actually early Christian amulets taken as relics and/or souvenirs from holy areas. In "Roman, Byzantine, and early Medieval Glass, the Ernesto Wolf Collection, 10 BCE-700 CE," Stern argues for this interpretation based on the distribution of these objects from the Holy Land to western Europe, which supports production in the Middle East and distribution to the Christian world.