Unguent Bottle (Alabastron)

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Unguent Bottle (Alabastron)

Place of OriginEastern Mediterranean, possibly from Rhodes

DateLate 6th through 5th centuries BCE

DimensionsH: 3 3/4 in. (9.5 cm); Rim Diam: 1 3/16 in. (3 cm); Diam: 1 1/16 in. (2.7 cm)

Mediumglass

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.141

Not on View

DescriptionThis small alabastron features a dark blue ground decorated with opaque yellow (appearing orangish) and opaque turquoise-blue threads. The vessel features a broad, unusually symmetrical rim-disk; a short cylindrical neck; a rounded shoulder; a cylindrical body that tapers slightly upward; and a convex bottom that is flat on one side. Two vertical dark blue ring handles with knobbed tails are attached just below the shoulder. A marvered opaque yellow thread is applied at the edge of the rim-disk. A second marvered yellow thread begins on the underside of the rim and is wound spirally, first in horizontal lines, then tooled into a zigzag pattern extending to the middle of the body. At that point, an opaque turquoise-blue thread is added, mingling with the yellow. Below, a second marvered turquoise-blue thread is wound horizontally around the lower body. The vessel was made using the core-forming technique and features trailed and marvered decoration with applied handles.

Published ReferencesHayes, John W., Roman and Pre-Roman Glass in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, 1975, p. 9.

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, New York, Hudson Hills Press in association with the Toledo Museum of Art, 1989, cat. no. 73, p. 136.