Unguent Bottle (Oinochoe)

Place of OriginEastern Mediterranean, possibly from Rhodes, Greece

DateLate 6th through 5th century BCE

DimensionsH: 4 13/16 in. (12.2 cm); Rim Diam: 1 9/16 in. (4 cm); Diam: 2 3/4 in. (7 cm)

Mediumglass

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.150

Not on View

DescriptionThis oinochoe has a dark blue ground with opaque yellow and opaque turquoise-blue decoration. The vessel features a broad trefoil rim-disk, a cylindrical neck with the inner lip visible, and a rounded shoulder that meets the neck at an obtuse angle. The ovoid body has a convex bottom and stands on a short, outsplayed dark blue foot that is concave underneath. A dark blue strap handle arches above the rim-disk, extending from the shoulder. An unmarvered opaque turquoise-blue thread streaked with opaque red is attached at the rim. Another unmarvered turquoise-blue thread is wound once around the middle of the neck. On the shoulder, a marvered opaque yellow thread begins and spirals in horizontal lines before being tooled into a close-set zigzag pattern around the body’s midsection. At this point, a marvered turquoise-blue thread is added and mingles with the yellow. Below this, two marvered opaque yellow threads and one marvered opaque turquoise-blue thread are each wound horizontally around the body. An unmarvered turquoise-blue thread is wound around the edge of the foot. A marvered oval dot of opaque yellow is partly fused at the lower handle attachment. The vessel is core-formed, with applied rim-disk, handle, and foot; applied marvered and unmarvered threads; and visible tooling marks on the upper surface of the foot. Slight vertical indentations appear on the body from 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. 114, p. 149, repr. (col.) p. 96.

Stern, E. Marianne, "Ancient Glass in Athenian Temple Treasures," in Journal of Glass Studies, vol. 41, 1999, p. 36-7, fig. 14.

Jones, Janet Duncan, "Glass Vessels from Gordion: Trade and Influence Along the Royal Road," in Kealhofer, Lisa, ed., The Archeology and Anthropology, 2005, p. 103, fig. 8-2.