Unguent Bottle (Stamnos)

Place of OriginEastern Mediterranean or Italy

DateLate 4th-early 3rd BCE

DimensionsH: 3 7/16 (8.7 cm); Rim Diam: 1 1/4 in. (3.2 cm); Max Diam: 2 7/16 in. (6.2 cm); Base Diam: 1 1/4 in. (3.1 cm)

Mediumglass

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.128

Not on View

DescriptionThis core-formed stamnos has a cobalt-blue ground with decoration in opaque yellow, opaque white, and opaque turquoise-blue. It features a broad, uneven rim-disk that slopes inward; a cylindrical neck with a slight upward taper; and an obtuse-angled shoulder above a bulbous body. The convex bottom rests on a circular cobalt-blue pad-base with a rounded edge and slightly concave underside. At the mid-body are two outsplayed cobalt-blue loop handles—one twisted with an opaque white thread, the other with both opaque white and turquoise-blue threads. An unmarvered opaque yellow thread is attached at the rim-disk, and another is wound horizontally around the neck. Two marvered opaque white threads begin on the shoulder: the upper is combed into an inverted festoon pattern and the lower into a festoon pattern. A marvered opaque yellow thread spirals in horizontal lines to the middle of the body, where a single opaque turquoise-blue thread is added. Below this, a marvered opaque white thread spirals in horizontal lines, then transitions into a shallow zigzag pattern. Finally, a marvered opaque yellow and a marvered opaque white thread spiral in several horizontal lines toward the base.

Published ReferencesThe Toledo Museum of Art, A Guide to the Collections, Toledo, 1966, repr.

Riefstahl, Rudolf M., "Ancient and Near Eastern Glass," in TMA Museum News 4, no. 2, 1967, p. 430, fig. 5.

The Toledo Museum of Art, Art in Glass: A Guide to the Glass Collections, Toledo, Ohio, 1969, p. 19, ill.

Katz, Herbert and Marjorie Katz, Museum Adventures: An Introduction to Discovery, New York, 1969, p. 92, ill.

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

Wittmann, Otto, ed., The Toledo Museum of Art. A Guide to the Collections, Toledo, Ohio, 1976, p. 2, ill.

Grose, David F., "Ancient Glass," in TMA Museum News 20, no. 3, 1978, p. 68 and cover.

Harden, Donald B., "Study and Research on Ancient Glass: Past and Future," in Journal of Glass Studies 26, 1981, pp. 113-114.

Grose, David F., "The Origins and Early History of Glass," in The History of Glass, ed. Dan Klein and Ward Lloyd, 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. 155, p. 165, repr. (col.) p. 106.

Groffi, T. and J. Heus, Beschavingen 2, Antwerp, 1990, repr. p. 240.

Groen, Joop van der Groen and Hans van Rossum, Romeins Glas uit Particulier Bezit, Utrecht, Martijs, 2011, pp.16-17, repr. p. 17.

Comparative ReferencesSee also Fossing, Poul, Glass Vessels before Glassblowing, Copenhagen, 1940, p. 101, fig. 74. (a vessel in the British Museum with a similar shape, but different decoration)