Head Pendant

  • Phoenicia or Carthage
  • 4th century B.C.
  • Glass
Catalogue Entry

Pendant shaped like the head of a bearded man. The main body is made of pale blue colored glass, while the face is made of yellow glass. The hair of cobalt glass is made into little curls which are attached across the forehead in a single row. The beard is ribbed cobalt glass. The eyebrows, eyelashes, pupils are all cobalt-colored. The round earrings are white glass while the ears, nose and mouth are expressed in yellow glass. A pale blue glass support ring is attached to the top of his head. This kind of head pendant was made, by rod-forming, fusing glass onto a core of clay or other substance to make the body and then applying the detailed features in colored glass attached to the surface. This pendant was worn as a protection from evil. The Levant, home to the Phoenicians, and Carthage, a city established by Phoenician immigrants, are thought to have been the central production sites for these head pendants and head beads, and these products were then exported from these centers. This work shows the important role played by the Phoenicians in the production and distribution of glass products.