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Roman Window-Panes from Jerash, and Later Parallels

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

Extract

It is not generally realized that the roller-moulded type of window-pane, so common in Italy and the western provinces of the Roman Empire from the first century A.D. onwards, was unknown, or at least extremely rare, in the East. Its place was taken, at least from the fourth century A.D. onwards, by circular panes of blown glass resembling very shallow dishes without a foot-ring. The rim is not plain, but is folded over outwards (a curious feature, presumably for added strength); the sides, normally about ½ to 1 mm. thick, are straight, and the bottom, usually 3 to 5 mm. thick, is bulbous, being flat or slightly concave externally. The average diameter is about 16 to 20 cm.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 1939

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References

page 91 note 1 Kisa, , Das Glas im Alternane, 362–5Google Scholar.

page 91 note 2 There is no proof that it was used at Karanis: only a few fragments occurred and these might have been used for glazing lanterns ( Harden, , Roman Glass from Karanis, 302 Google Scholar). The same holds good of fragments from Jerash. I am not aware of a single instance in the East where roller-moulded glass has a proved connexion with windows.

page 91 note 3 Thorpe, W. A., English Glass, 79 f.Google Scholar, maintains that Syrian examples are known from earlier Roman days: this is very probable, but proof is lacking.

page 91 note 4 P. V. C. Baur in describing the glass from Jerash (ap. Kraeling, C. H., Gerasa, City of the Decapolis, 527, fig. 23Google Scholar) lists these panes as ‘dishes or shallow bowls’, but on p. 546 he recognizes that circular ‘bull's-eye’ window-panes occurred.

page 91 note 5 Lamm, C. J., Das Glas von Samana, 125, 127 f.Google Scholar; here also fragments of plaster frames occurred.

page 91 note 6 Arkell, A. J. in Sudan Notes and Records, xix. ii (1936), 31O, pl. XIIIGoogle Scholar.