PURPOSE: To prevent the impairment of the appearance of a formed optical element having excellent heat resistance without fusion to a glass blank by forming a jig for transporting and holding the glass blank softened by heating of a sintered compact essentially consisting of a chromium carbide.

CONSTITUTION: A circular columnar upper die 1 and lower die 2 formed with the forming surfaces of the shapes corresponding to the shape of the optical element to be formed at their respective front ends are formed coaxially in such a manner that the respective forming surfaces face each other. A holding and transporting jig 3 of an annular shape projected and formed with a step part 5 for holding, transporting and placing the glass blank 4 in a high-temp. state in a bore direction is disposed between the upper die 1 and the lower die 2. This jig 3 is formed of chromium carbide based ceramics which consists basically of the chromium carbide and into which the chromium carbide is incorporated as a second phase.