Antiquities, Cypriotic Base Ring I Jugglet (Jug), Hebrew Lettering

Details

Description

This ancient clay vessel is an historical treasure. Extensively researched, the design appears to be in the shape of an … Read more This ancient clay vessel is an historical treasure. Extensively researched, the design appears to be in the shape of an opium-carrying vessel, used for transport across the ancient Mediterranean.

Presumed Cypriotic Base-Ring ware pottery Juglet or Jug (Type: Base Ring-I)
Holy Land, Jerusalem
along the Eastern Mediterranian
Presumed Late Bronze Age, 1550-1200 BC

צעדה
Meaning: March
Tzaad: To step or march

Tzadek: Justice and Humility
Ayin: Vision and Perception
Dalet: Dimensions, Relations and Space
Heh: Divinity, Extinction, Specificity

Cypriot Base-Ring juglets, especially, widely circulated within the Eastern Mediterranean from the 16th to the 13th c. BCE.

Period:
The introduction of opium in Egypt is attributed to the 18th Dynasty (1550-1292 BCE).

Cypriot Base-Ring juglets are characterized by a funnel mouth, a conical neck, an ovoid body and a ring base. A strap handle is attached at the superior part of the neck and on the shoulder of the juglet. All of them are handmade and the lower extremity of the handle is, as a rule, inserted through the wall of the vessel, according to a typical Cypriot technic.

Additional References:
A brief paraphrased summary of a detailed historical analysis follows:

“The funding article was published in 1962, when R.S. Merrillees was still a PhD student at the Department of Egyptology at University College London. The main purpose of the paper was to understand why juglets (Base-ring I and II) were exported from Cyprus to Egypt during the LBA. According to the author, there would be three potential reasons to this exportation. [These include: for their ornamental asset, for their intrinsic usefulness, or for their content.].” (Merrillees 1962: 288)

“Although … all three reasons could be regarded, the type of content was, from his point of view, the most convincing one, arguing that the juglets had an important commercial value in the past. Thus, he supposed that the shape of the juglet could have quickly informed (the purchaser and the consumer) about the content of the vase, which would facilitate its commercial promotion between countries that do not speak and write the same language. Moreover, he wrote that, in addition of the small size of the pots, the fact that Egyptians continued, despite the change of juglets shape (type I to II), to be in demand of these products would be in favor of a desirable and valuable product for the Egyptian market. Then, R.S. Merrillees stated that the juglet content should be an opium-based liquid, on the one hand because of the narrow neck allowing only the passage of a liquid substance and, on the other hand, because of its morphological resemblance (size and outlines) with a poppy capsule.”

‘The so called “Cypriot juglet theory” has been taken up by several authors for more than 50 years, without, however, all adhering to the idea that the form of the juglet indicates its content, i.e. opium (Merlin 1984:251–260; Bisset et al. 1996; Nencini 2022). Numerous figures have been produced in literature showing a juglet backed by an inverted opium poppy capsule.’

“…The study of several vessels from funerary context at LBA Tel Yehud (Israel) and sampled as soon as they were excavated, detected opioid decomposition products, including morphine, in several jugs and juglets type vessels but also in storage jars (Linares et al. 2022).

Chovanec, Zuzana, Shlomo Bunimovitz, et Zvi Lederman. 2015. « Is there opium here? Analysis of Cypriote Base Ring juglets from Tel Beth-Shemesh, Israel ». Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry 15(2):175‑89.

Merlin, Mark David. 1984. « On the trail of the ancient opium poppy ». London and Toronto: Associated University Presses

Sarah Vilain. Towards a reassessment of Levantine and Egyptian jugs and juglets related to
Cypriot Base Ring ware. Giorgos Bourogiannis. Beyond Cyprus: Investigating Cypriot Connec-
tivity in the Mediterranean from the Late Bronze Age to the End of the Classical Period, 9, Na-
tional and Kapodistrian University of Athens, pp.141-152, 2022, Aura Supplement, 978-618-85619-8-4.

Special note from Seller: While I have contacted the Israeli Antiquities Authority to offer and review this artifact for their collections, no response has been received. Additional and extensive efforts were also made to contact The Museum of Haifa and other Israeli Museums. It may be that messages from the U.S. are not recognized. I believe first and foremost this belongs in an Israeli Museum. All efforts have been tried.

In the event that this published listing brings about greater recognition of the jug to the appropriate Israeli Antiquities Authority, all rights, preservation and collection are reserved to Israel. Buyer will be notified of a cancellation if this occurs. See less