Bottle in the Shape of a Janus Head

108
Bottle in the Shape of a Janus Head
Sidon; 2nd c. AD

Syrian products often combined the new technique of blown glass with that of the mould and one of the most important centres of this craft was Sidon where this bottle was made. It shows the head of the Roman god Janus, facing both ways the past and future, symbol and guardian of all beginnings.

It is rendered with an expressiveness reminiscent of the bottle of the same period in the Hans Cohn collection in Los Angeles. The Janus head was frequently made right down to the 4th c.