Unguent Bottle (Hydriske)

Place of OriginEastern Mediterranean or Italy

DateMid-4th to early 3rd century BCE

DimensionsH: 3 3/8 in. (8.4 cm); Rim Diam: 1 3/16 in. (3.0 cm); Max Diam (body): 2 1/4 in. (5.6 cm); Base Diam: 1 3/16 in. (3.0 cm)

MediumCore-formed glass; applied rim-disk, handles, and padbase; applied marvered and unmarvered threads.

ClassificationGlass

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1983.13

Not on View

DescriptionHydriske. Cobalt-blue ground with white speckles, with opaque yellow and opaque white decoration. Moderately broad rim-disk, sloping diagonally inward; cylindrical neck with upward taper; obtuse- to almost right-angled shoulder; bulbous body; convex bottom; circular cobalt-blue pad-base, almost flat on its underside, with a rounded edge. At the junction of the shoulder and body, two blue, almost vertical but uneven loop handles, attached at different heights on the body; a strap handle, also blue, uneven and askew, rising vertically from the shoulder to the top of the neck. An opaque yellow unmarvered thread attached at the edge of the rim-disk and wound spirally four times around the neck; a second opaque yellow thread, marvered, begun on the shoulder and wound spirally in horizontal lines; below this, a marvered opaque white thread begun and tooled into a shallow zigzag pattern around the middle of the body; below this, a marvered opaque yellow thread begun and wound spirally twice around the body; below it, another marvered opaque white thread begun and wound spirally twice around the body; below it, another marvered opaque white thread begun and wound spirally three times around the lower bottom; an opaque yellow thread, unmarvered, is wound around the pad-base.

Published References

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. 157, p. 165-166, Repr. (col.) p. 105.