Unguent Bottle (Oinochoe)

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Unguent Bottle (Oinochoe)

Place of OriginEastern Mediterranean or Italy

DateMid-4th through early 3rd century BCE

DimensionsH: 4 5/8 in. (11.7 cm); Rim Diam: 1 9/16 in. (3.9 cm); Diam: 2 3/8 in. (6 cm)

Mediumglass

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.149

Not on View

DescriptionThis oinochoe has a cobalt-blue ground that appears black, with opaque yellow and opaque white decoration. It features a broad trefoil rim-disk, a cylindrical neck, and a near right-angled transition to a rounded shoulder. The straight-sided cylindrical body tapers downward and terminates in a low, circular pad-base that is asymmetrical, uneven, and slightly concave underneath. A cobalt-blue strap handle arches from the shoulder to the edge of the rim-disk. An unmarvered opaque yellow thread is attached at the rim’s edge. A second unmarvered opaque yellow thread begins at the top of the neck and is wound spirally in horizontal lines to near the bottom of the neck. On the shoulder, a marvered opaque yellow thread is wound spirally in two horizontal lines and then tooled into a feather pattern extending to the base; mingling with it in alternating bands is a marvered opaque white thread. A final unmarvered opaque yellow thread is wound around the edge of the pad-base. The vessel is core-formed, with applied rim-disk, handle, and pad-base, and applied marvered and unmarvered threads.

Published ReferencesHayes, John W., Roman and Pre-Roman Glass in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, 1975, p. 12.

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. 149, p. 162, repr. (col.) p. 104.