Unguent Bottle (Alabastron)
Unguent Bottle (Alabastron)
Place of OriginEastern Mediterranean
Date1st century BCE
DimensionsH: 3 5/8 in. (9.2 cm.); Diam: 9/16 in. (1.4 cm)
MediumGold-band alabastron; assembled from lengths of cane and cast, probably around a rod; rotary-polished on the exterior.
ClassificationGlass
Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number
1951.406
Not on View
DescriptionAlabastron. Upright rim with flat edge; almost vertical, straight side with an upward taper; convex pointed bottom. Gold-band mosaic pattern formed from parallel wavy lengths of four narrow canes set vertically on the body: the first in an opaque medium blue ground; the second in a dark blue ground with a central opaque white line and opaque white streaks; the third in a golden-yellow ground; and the fourth in a colorless ground encasing shattered gold leaf. This pattern is repeated twice over the body.
Gold-band mosaic pattern formed from parallel wavy lengths of four narrow canes set vertically on the body: the first in an opaque medium blue ground; the second in a dark blue ground with a cen-tral opaque white line and opaque white streaks; the third i
Published ReferencesRiefstahl, Rudolf M., "Ancient and Near Eastern Glass," TMA Museum News 4, no. 2, 1961, p. 34, ill.
Grose, David F., "Innovation and change in ancient technologies: The anomalous case of the Roman glass industry," in High-technology ceramics, Westerville, OH, 1986, p. 73, fig. 12, p. 75.
Grose, David F., Early Ancient Glass: Core-Formed, Rod-Formed, and Cast Vessels and Objects from the Late Bronze Age to the Early Roman Empire, 1600 B.C. to A.D. 50, Hudson Hills Press in Association with the Toledo Museum of Art, New York, 1989, cat. no. 225, p. 208, drawing, p. 412.
Late 1st century BCE to early 1st century CE
Late 1st century BCE to early 1st century CE
Late 1st century BCE to early 1st century CE
Late 1st century BCE to early 1st century CE
Late 1st century BCE to early 1st century CE
Late 1st century BCE to early 1st century CE
Second to mid-1st century BCE
Second to mid-1st century BCE
Late 1st century BCE to early 1st century CE
Late 1st century BCE to early 1st century CE
2nd to mid-1st century BCE
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