Unguent Bottle (Alabastron)

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Unguent Bottle (Alabastron)

Place of OriginEastern Mediterranean, possibly from Rhodes

Date5th century BCE

DimensionsH: 5 1/8 in. (13 cm); Rim Diam: 1 7/16 in. (3.7 cm); Diam: 1 5/16 in. (3.3 cm)

Mediumglass

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.179

Not on View

DescriptionThis alabastron features a dark ground, possibly dark green (appearing black), with applied decoration in opaque yellow and opaque turquoise-blue. The vessel has a broad horizontal rim-disk; a short cylindrical neck; a rounded shoulder; and a straight-sided cylindrical body that tapers upward slightly, ending in a convex bottom. Below the shoulder are two vertical ring handles in the same dark material, each with a knobbed tail. An unmarvered opaque turquoise-blue thread is attached at the edge of the rim-disk. A second turquoise-blue thread and one in opaque yellow, both marvered, begin on the neck and are wound spirally in nearly horizontal lines. These are then tooled into an uneven, closely spaced zigzag pattern, which extends from the middle of the body to just above the base, where the threads are once again wound in horizontal lines. Manufactured using the core-forming technique, the vessel also includes an applied rim-disk and handles, and applied marvered and unmarvered threads.

Published ReferencesGrose, 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. 82, p. 139, repr. (col.) p. 97.Comparative ReferencesSee also von Saldern, Axel, et al., Gläser Der Antike, Sammlung Oppenländer, Hamburg, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, 1974, fig. 185, pp. 72-73.