These inscriptions fall into two classes:—1. A propitiatory sentence
or expression of well-wishing addressed, it would seem, to the person
to whom the piece is presented; of such we have already given some
examples. 2. The name of the maker. With few exceptions these
inscriptions are confined to glass that has been blown into a mould,
and this for practical reasons which will be obvious.
The signature of Ennion may be read in many cases on little vases
or bottles found in Italy, in Cyprus, and in the Crimea. Ennion
worked probably at Sidon or at Tyre and quite possibly as far back
as the third century B.C. The words ΜΝΗϹΘΗ Ο ΑΓΟΡΑΖΩΝ ‘Let the
buyer remember,’ which he sometimes added to his name, were perhaps
intended to accentuate the signature. The glass-blowers of Sidon seem
to have been proud of their native town; along with their signature
its name generally appears on the ‘thumb-piece’ of the handle: that
of Irenæus is in each case accompanied by the head of an emperor in
relief—Augustus or perhaps Caligula. Artas, whose signature has been
found more often than any other, gives his name both in Latin and
Greek—ARTAS SIDON—ΑΡΤΑϹ ϹΕΙΔΩ.
Let us now pass to examples of a later date that are characteristically
and distinctly Roman. What can be more so than the large quadrangular
bottles, on the base of which so many inscriptions have been found?
Here, as on the contemporary pottery, the reference is generally to the
owner of the works whose name is accompanied sometimes by the word
_patrimonium_. But the inscription is often reduced to four letters
placed in the angles—letters that have been a standing puzzle to
antiquaries. Many pieces of glass bearing the stamp of Firmus, of
Hilarus, or again of Hylas—contracted or in the genitive case—have
been found not only in Italy (as in the neighbourhood of Perugia), but
also in the Cologne district. On the other hand, the signature of
Frontinus is above all frequent on a series of barrel-shaped glass
vessels of a late date, which come from various places in the north of
France, more especially from Picardy; but the signature is found in the
Rhine country also. The firm seems to have been as important and its
outturn as widespread as that of the Bonhomme family of Liége in the
seventeenth century. Several examples of the Frontinus signature in
various forms are given by M. Froehner.[58]
It is a curious fact that in no case, as far as I am aware, has the
custom of the manufacturer adding his name to the glass made by him
become general in later times. The practical difficulties in the case
of blown glass may be a sufficient reason for this. Perhaps the most
important exception may be found in the stamps of makers’ names on
wine-bottles of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
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