Trefoil Oinochoe (Pitcher)
Trefoil Oinochoe (Pitcher)
Place of OriginEastern Mediterranean or Italy
Dateabout 350-275 BCE
DimensionsH: 5 15/16 in (15.0 cm)
Mediumglass
ClassificationGlass
Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number
1923.152
Not on View
DescriptionThis large oinochoe has a cobalt-blue ground decorated with opaque yellow, opaque white, and opaque turquoise-blue threads. It features a broad trefoil rim-disk, a cylindrical neck that tapers downward, and a sharply angled transition to a rounded shoulder. The body is straight-sided and nearly cylindrical, tapering distinctly toward a circular, asymmetrical pad-base with a slightly concave underside. A vertical cobalt-blue strap handle extends from the shoulder to the rim-disk and arches above it.
An unmarvered opaque yellow thread is attached at the edge of the rim-disk, with a second unmarvered thread beginning at the top of the neck and spiraling downward in almost horizontal lines. A marvered opaque yellow thread begins on the shoulder and is wound in horizontal lines before being tooled into a feather pattern. Alternating bands of marvered opaque white and turquoise-blue threads mingle with the yellow pattern. An unmarvered opaque yellow thread is wound around the pad-base. The vessel is core-formed, with applied rim-disk, handle, and pad-base, and applied marvered and unmarvered threads. Short vertical indentations on the body resulted from tooling the feather pattern.
Published ReferencesHayes, John W., Roman and Pre-Roman Glass in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, 1975, p. 12.
Grose, David F., "Ancient Glass," TMA Museum News 20, no. 3, 1978, p. 68 and cover.
Grose, David F., "The Origins and Early History of Glass," in The History of Glass, eds. Dan Klein and Ward Lloyd, London, 1984, p. 17, ill.
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. 147, p. 161-162, Repr. (col.) p. 104.
Page, Jutta-Annette, The Art of Glass: Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio, Toledo Museum of Art, 2006, p. 22, repr. (col.) fig. 3G, p. 23.
The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 65, repr. (col.).
Mid-4th through early 3rd century BCE
Mid-4th through early 3rd century BCE
Mid 4th-early 3rd BCE
Mid-4th through early 3rd century BCE
Mid-4th through early 3rd centuries BCE
Mid-4th through early 3rd centuries BCE
Late 4th-early 3rd BCE
Mid-4th through early 3rd centuries BCE
Late 6th through 5th century BCE
Probably first half of 5th century BCE
Mid-4th through early 3rd century BCE
Mid-4th to early 3rd century BCE
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