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Glass Pendants in Tekirdağ and Edirne Museums

Emre Taştemür
p. 53-56

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I’m grateful to the director of the Tekirdağ Museum N. Önder Öztürk and the director of Edirne Museum Hasan Karakaya, for allowing me to study the material.

  • 1 Barag 1985: 23-36.
  • 2 Taştemür 2016: 215. Early glass was used to produce beads, pendants and furniture inlays. It was of (...)
  • 3 Tatton-Brown 1981: 143.

1One of the most striking examples among the objects made of glass in Edirne and Tekirdağ Museums is glass pendants. These glass objects are rarely seen both in archaeological sites and museums. They are made by using rod formed technique. This technique is the earliest one which has been used to make beads since 20th century B.C.1. Probably glass masters in the middle of 1st milenium B.C. developed core formed technique from rod formed technique2. We come across pendants seen in the settlements around the Mediterranean Sea most in Phoenicia from 1st milenium B.C. and its colony Carthage, Spain, Sardinia, Sicily, Cyprus, Rhodes, Egypt, Greece, Balkans and France3.

  • 4 Grose 1989: 82.
  • 5 Uberti 1988: 40.
  • 6 Stern 1976: 116,117; Tatton-Brown 1981: plate XXV no 405, 406.

2Undoubtedly, among the most important glass works produced and distributed in the ancient world by Phoenicians were the glass pendants4. We generally see Phoenician bearded men in the description of pendants. Even if it is rare, sometimes there are also women, animals and demons. They are regarded to describe gods and goddesses of Phoenicia and Carthage, particularly in men and women5. However, pendants are seen as a talisman to protect against evils and evil eye. Pendants are not worn on their own. They are ornamented with beads used as spacer rings on both sides. Spacer rings are generally multicoloured as in the pendants in the shape of head and their colour is synchronized with the pendant6.

  • 7 Seefried 1979: 17.
  • 8 Tatton-Brown 1985: 115, plate 21.
  • 9 Goldstein 1979: 48, no 4.

3The pendants usually exist in the graves. The region where these pendants are found most is called today as Tunisia in which Phoenicians used to live. According to the figures given by Seefried in his 1979 publication, there are about 450 pendants displayed in museums around the world, 118 of which are in Tunisian Museums (Bardo and Carthage)7. Based on the trade network of the Phoenicians, pendants have been found in Cyprus, Sardinia, Sicily, Ibiza and Spain. The earliest examples are dated to the late 7th century B.C., and the latest examples are from the 3rd and 2nd centuries B.C.8. However, it is known that there are demon pendants dating from the 15th and 14th centuries B.C. in the Northern Mesopotamia. They are made with the technique of die casting9. Tatton-Brown states that the earliest production site of the rod-shaped pendants was Rhodes, besides the widely excepted production site of Carthage, but the production was also made in the Syrian-Palestinian and Alexandria workshops due to domestic turbulence in Rhodes around 400 B.C.

  • 10 Seefried 1979: 17-25.
  • 11 Tatton-Brown 1981: 143.
  • 12 He distinguished them as demon head, curly hair male, female head, animals and various types Seefri (...)

4Seefried studied the pendants in detail for the first time, and he divided groups from A to F, and classified them into subcategories. He also dated these classifications according to their contexts10. Tatton-Brown devised three groups according to their forms as A, B, C, and classified these groups according to their formal characteristics11. Compared to Tatton-Brown, Seefried made a detailed distinction in his typological classification in six main groups12. Tatton-Brown divided the details under the main headings without much discussion (head-shaped pendants, figurine-shaped pendants and beads).

  • 13 Pendants as theater masks were found at a height of 1.1 cm and 2 cm in Delos excavations. Theater m (...)
  • 14 Lightfoot 2001: 59-66.
  • 15 Erten 2007: 3.

5Various searches were made on Pendant glasses and significant results were obtained from the studies in Egypt. In the petrographic analyses on Egyptian glasses, it was observed that a mixture of sand, clay and lead was wrapped as a thin layer on a metal bar. Diameters of cores change according to size of pendant to be produced. The diameter of the layer wrapped around the metal rod can be calculated with each hole on the pendant. Pendants are formed by wrapping different colours of molten glass to the core depending on the fashion of the period. The masks usually consisted of three or four colour compositions. Hair, eyebrows, eyes, beards are usually made in the same colour; face, nose, whiteness of the eye, and the ears are in other colours, mouth and earrings in others. This technique was not only used to make masks13 but also rams’ heads, birds, grapes, and lentoid aryballoi14. When the pendant is complete, the rod is cooled after removing from the fire, and the core is removed by cleaning with a sharp tool. The details on the pendant (on the face of animals or humans) such as eyes, mouth, beard, ring, hat, etc. were created by shaping the glass in various colours. Then, they were appliquéd on the pendant as a single or double layer15.

***

  • 16 Seefried 1979: 17,18, 21(fig. 13).

6The glass pendant in Tekirdağ Museum (Fig. 1-2) is very similar to the female head, which Seefried calls Type D. The appliqué glass attachments and the hair of the artefact in Tekirdağ Museum are not well preserved. The components of the face were usually executed in yellow, but in some examples they are very colourful. These types of artefacts were discovered in tombs, in Carthage and the Mediterranean Sea, dated between 3rd-1st centuries B.C. In general, they are dated to the Hellenistic period16.

Fig. 1

Fig. 1

Photo of glass pendant in the Tekirdağ Museum.

E. Taştemür

Fig. 2

Fig. 2

Drawing of glass pendant in the Tekirdağ Museum.

E. Taştemür

  • 17 Harden 1981: 148, 149. 413 A-II b.

7The pendant in Edirne Museum (Fig. 3-4) is an example of the pendant with head-band, Harden Type A-IIb. Harden notes that these types of pendants were produced between the early 6th century and the 4th century B.C.17.

Fig. 3

Fig. 3

Photo of glass pendant in the Edirne Museum.

E. Taştemür

Fig. 4

Fig. 4

Drawing of glass pendant in the Edirne Museum.

E. Taştemür

Assessment

  • 18 Özet 1998: 40, no8.
  • 19 Erten 2007: 9.
  • 20 Erten 2007: 12, fig. 1-4.
  • 21 Canav 1985: 27, no1-3.

8Although discussions about the place where glass pendants were produced, Phoenicia and its colony Carthage are important centres in terms of production. However, pendants have been seen in several settlements in Mediterranean basin since the first half of 1st century B.C. They are hard to date except typological aspect, since findings are not excavated in a context or archaeological layer. There are findings excavated from grave contexts and archaeological excavations though they are not plenty. Findings in Anatolia are as follows: a pendant in the form of bird head dating from the 4th century B.C. from the Mausoleion excavations18, a glass pendant from Tarsus Gözlükule19, a pendant in the form of human head dating from the early 5th and 4th centuries B.C. from the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations20, and pendants in the form of human head dating from the 6th century B.C. from Yüksel Erimtan collection21. The samples we gave here are few. However, there are plenty of findings in Turkey. Since there is not enough publication regarding glassware, these findings remain unknown. The finding spot of the glass pendants in Tekirdağ and Edirne Museums is unknown. But they may have been used as a burial gift because they are well-preserved. These works were probably produced in Phoenicia or Carthage and they date from the archaic and Hellenistic ages. This indicates that Thrace was still trading with Phoenicia and Carthage. This is a significant point.

Catalogue

9Tekirdağ Museum: inv. 475
Method of Acquisition: During the counting objects Find Spot: Indefinite
H. 1.7 cm, W.1.3 cm, Thickness 1.1 cm, Hole diam. 0.2 cm
Light yellowish face, transparent, back of the head dark blue. Shaped with rod. A hole due to bubble breaking over the head. Possibly hair and hanging ring, and the eye applique are missing. There are missing parts, loss of gloss over the glass.
Face ovoid, probably eyes applique, beak nose, unspecific lips, flat forehead.
3rd-1st centuries B.C.
Similar to: Seefried 1979: 21 (fig.13); Smith 1957: 93, no160; Harden1981: 152, Pl. XXVII, no 435; Nenna 1999: 43, Planche 54, no E178-E180.

10Edirne Museum: inv. 3211
Method of Acquisition: Confiscation Find Spot: Indefinite
H. 3.6 cm, W.1.8 cm, Thickness 1.8 cm, Hole diam. 0.4 cm
Face opaque dark blue, eyeball white, lips and eyes blue, ears light yellow. The bird over the hat has light yellow beak, eye socket opaque blue, and eyeball red. Shaped with rod. Whole. Loss of gloss over the glass.
Triangular features on the face, big eyes and sticking out, ears like knots, big lips and nose. Bird shaped hat over the head, notch as relief where head and hat meets.
Early 6th to 4th centuries B.C.
Similar to: Harden 1981: 148, 149. 413 A-II b

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Bibliographie

Barag, D., 1985: Catalogue of Western Asiatic Glass in the British Museum, Vol. 1, London.

Canav, Ü., 1985: Türkiye Şişe Cam Fabrikaları Cam Eserler Koleksiyonu, İstanbul.

Çakmaklı, Ö.D., 2017: ‟Opifices Arti Vitri: Roma İmparatorluğu’nda Cam Ustaları / Glass Masters in the Roman Empire”, Cedrus V: 325-336.

Erten, E., 2007: “Anadolu Medeniyetleri Müzesi’nden Cam Pendant”, Olba XV: 1-12.

Goldstein M.S., 1979: Pre-Roman And Early Roman Glass In The Corning Museum of Glass, New York.

Grose, D.F., 1989: Early Ancient Glass: Core-Formed, Rod-Formed, and Cast Vessels and Objects from the Late Bronze Age to the Early Roman Empire, 1600 B.C. to A.D. 50, New York.

Harden, D.B., 1981: Catalogue of Greek and Roman glass in the British Museum, Volume I, British Museum Publications, London.

Höpken, C. and Çakmaklı, Ö.D., 2015: Fragile Splendour: Glass in the Medusa collection in Gaziantep, Verlag Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH, Bonn.

Lightfoot, C.S., 2001: “The Pendant Possibilities of Core-Formed Glass Bottles”, Metropolitan Museum Journal 36: 59-66.

Nenna, M.D., 1999: “Les Verres”, Exploration Archéologique De Délos, Fascicule XXXVII, École française d’Athènes.

Özet, A., 1998: Dipten Gelen Parıltı, Bodrum Sualtı Arkeoloji Müzesi Cam Eserleri, Ankara.

Seefried, M., 1979: “Glass Core Pendants Found in the Mediterranean Area”, Journal of Glass Studies 21: 17-25.

Smith, Ray W., 1957: Glass from the Ancient World: the Ray Winfield Smith Collection, Corning, 1957.

Stern, M., 1976: “Phoenician Masks and Pendants”, Palestine Exploration Quarterly 108: 109-118.

Taştemür, E., 2016: ‟İç Kalıp Teknikli Cam Eserler ve Çanakkale Müzesi Örnekleri”, Colloquium Anatolicum 15: 170-195.

Tatton-Brown, V., 1981: ‟Rod-Formed Glass Pendants and Beads of the First Millennium B.C.”, in Harden, D.B., Catalogue of Greek and Roman Glass in the British Museum, Vol. I, Core and Rod formed Vessels and Pendants and Mycanaean Cast Objects, Trustees of the British Museum, London: 143-155.

Tatton-Brown, V., 1985: ‟Appendix I: Rod-Formed Pendants”, in Barag, D., Catalogue of Western Asiatic Glass in the British Museum, Vol. 1, London: 115-117.

Uberti, M.L., 1988: I vetri”, in: I Fenici, catalogo della mostra (Venezia, Palazzo Grassi, marzo-novembre), Bompiani, Milano.

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Notes

1 Barag 1985: 23-36.

2 Taştemür 2016: 215. Early glass was used to produce beads, pendants and furniture inlays. It was often meant as an imitation of semi precious stones like lapis lazuli and rock crystal. On the other hand, the first glass vessels, produced in the Near East in 16th century B.C. (Çakmaklı 2017: 325) and they were made by applying hot glass on a core of sand or clay (Höpken and Çakmaklı 2015: 5).

3 Tatton-Brown 1981: 143.

4 Grose 1989: 82.

5 Uberti 1988: 40.

6 Stern 1976: 116,117; Tatton-Brown 1981: plate XXV no 405, 406.

7 Seefried 1979: 17.

8 Tatton-Brown 1985: 115, plate 21.

9 Goldstein 1979: 48, no 4.

10 Seefried 1979: 17-25.

11 Tatton-Brown 1981: 143.

12 He distinguished them as demon head, curly hair male, female head, animals and various types Seefried 1979: 17-25.

13 Pendants as theater masks were found at a height of 1.1 cm and 2 cm in Delos excavations. Theater masks used as pendants are rarely found. Nenna 1999: 43, Planche 54, no E178-E180.

14 Lightfoot 2001: 59-66.

15 Erten 2007: 3.

16 Seefried 1979: 17,18, 21(fig. 13).

17 Harden 1981: 148, 149. 413 A-II b.

18 Özet 1998: 40, no8.

19 Erten 2007: 9.

20 Erten 2007: 12, fig. 1-4.

21 Canav 1985: 27, no1-3.

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Table des illustrations

Titre Fig. 1
Légende Photo of glass pendant in the Tekirdağ Museum.
Crédits E. Taştemür
URL http://journals.openedition.org/anatoliaantiqua/docannexe/image/439/img-1.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 100k
Titre Fig. 2
Légende Drawing of glass pendant in the Tekirdağ Museum.
Crédits E. Taştemür
URL http://journals.openedition.org/anatoliaantiqua/docannexe/image/439/img-2.png
Fichier image/png, 93k
Titre Fig. 3
Légende Photo of glass pendant in the Edirne Museum.
Crédits E. Taştemür
URL http://journals.openedition.org/anatoliaantiqua/docannexe/image/439/img-3.png
Fichier image/png, 371k
Titre Fig. 4
Légende Drawing of glass pendant in the Edirne Museum.
Crédits E. Taştemür
URL http://journals.openedition.org/anatoliaantiqua/docannexe/image/439/img-4.png
Fichier image/png, 339k
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Emre Taştemür, « Glass Pendants in Tekirdağ and Edirne Museums »Anatolia Antiqua, XXV | 2017, 53-56.

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Emre Taştemür, « Glass Pendants in Tekirdağ and Edirne Museums »Anatolia Antiqua [En ligne], XXV | 2017, mis en ligne le 01 mai 2019, consulté le 19 avril 2025. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/anatoliaantiqua/439 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/anatoliaantiqua.439

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Auteur

Emre Taştemür

Uşak University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Archaeology Department, 1 Eylül Yerleşkesi, Uşak/Turkey,
emre.tastemur@usak.edu.tr

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