A Glass Vessel with Applied and Marvered Decor from the Ostolopovo Settlement in Tatarstan: terminology, origin, chronology

Abstract

The article deals with a glass vessel, found in 2005 on the Bolgar Ostolopovo settlement (late X – late XII century), located on the left bank of the Kama River (Republic of Tatarstan), during archaeological excavations led by one of the authors. The vessel belongs to the group of oriental wares with applied and marvered decor, produced mainly in the XII–XV centuries. Apparently, the vessel was a small bottle or flask. Wares of this shape are well known and widespread in the Middle East, where they were used to keep kohl. Due to the reliable archaeological context, the vessel was discovered in a complex, dated to the end of the XI – beginning of the XII century. It can be attributed to the period preceding the stage of mass production of items with similar decoration in the Islamic East. Among the small number of narrowly dated objects of this group known by today, belonging to the pre-Mongol period, the Ostolopovo flask can be considered the earliest one not only for the territory of Volga Bolgaria, but also for Eastern Europe as a whole, and also, possibly, for some neighboring regions, in particular, for Southern Europe.

Keywords

• archaeology
• glass vessel
• flask
• products with applied and marvered decor
• featherlike decor
• ostolopovo settlement
• volga bolgaria
• pre-mongol period
• islamic east