Unguent Bottle (Oinochoe)

Place of OriginEastern Mediterranean or Italy

DateMid-4th through early 3rd centuries BCE

DimensionsH: 4 15/16 in. (12.6 cm); Rim Diam: 1 1/4 in. (3.2 cm); Diam: 2 5/16 in. (5.8 cm); Base Diam: 1 1/2 in. (3.8 cm)

Mediumglass

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.135

Not on View

DescriptionOinochoe. Cobalt-blue ground with opaque yellow (appearing orangish) and opaque white decoration. Broad trefoil rim-disk; tall, uneven cylindrical neck; obtuse-angled shoulder; fairly straight-sided piriform body; circular cobalt-blue pad-base, flat on its underside, with a rounded edge. A cobalt-blue strap handle extends from below the shoulder to the underside of the rim-disk; as restored, the handle rises to just above the rim-disk. An unmarvered opaque yellow thread attached at the edge of the rim-disk; below, a second unmarvered opaque yellow thread wound spirally around the upper part of the neck; a partly marvered opaque white thread begun at the junction of the neck and shoulder and wound spirally, at first in almost horizontal lines, then tooled into a shallow, uneven wavy or zigzag pattern around the middle and lower part of the body, and finally wound in horizontal lines to just above the pad-base; a third opaque yellow thread, marvered, begun below the shoulder and wound spirally, mingling in bands with the white thread; a fourth opaque yellow thread, marvered, begun just above the pad-base and wound spirally twice around the lower body; a fifth opaque yellow thread, unmarvered, is wound around the edge of the pad-base. Core-formed; applied rim-disk, handle, and pad-base; applied marvered and unmarvered threads. Vertical identations on the body caused by the tooling of the zigzags.

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. 152, p. 163.