Unguent Bottle (Amphoriskos)
Unguent Bottle (Amphoriskos)
Place of OriginEastern Mediterranean, possibly from Syro-Palestinian region
Date2nd-1st century BCE
DimensionsH: 4 5/8 in. (11.7 cm); Rim Diam: 1 1/4 in. (3.2 cm); Diam: 2 1/16 in. (5.2 cm)
Mediumglass
ClassificationGlass
Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number
1923.95
Not on View
DescriptionThis unguent bottle (amphoriskos) is made from core-formed glass with a dark, possibly yellow-green ground that appears black. The vessel is decorated with marvered threads in opaque white and opaque yellow. It features a broad, inward-sloping rim-disk, a tall cylindrical neck that tapers slightly upward, an obtuse-angled shoulder, and a straight-sided ovoid body that ends in a convex pointed bottom. The circular pad-base, formed from the same dark yellow-green glass, is flat but uneven on its underside and has a rounded edge.
Two vertical s-shaped handles of dark yellow-green glass extend from the shoulder to the underside of the rim-disk. These are joined to the shoulder and lower neck, rising to just above the rim-disk. Marvered opaque white and yellow threads are applied at the edge of the rim-disk and wound spirally in nearly horizontal lines around the upper neck. The threads are then tooled into a festoon pattern across the neck and shoulder, and into a feather pattern that continues over the body to the base. The vessel is core-formed, with trailed and applied decoration, including applied handles and base.
Published ReferencesHayes, John W., Roman and Pre-Roman Glass in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, 1975, pp. 18-19.
Grose, David F., "Ancient Glass," in 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, Hudson Hills Press in Association with the Toledo Museum of Art, New York, 1989, cat. no. 177, p. 172-173, repr. (col.) p. 108, drawing, p. 408.
Arts, P.L.W., "A Collection of Ancient Glass 500 BC - 500 AD," ANTIEK Lochem, 2000, p. 84.
2nd through mid-1st century BCE
2nd-1st century BCE
Late sixth through fifth centuries BCE
6th-5th century BCE
2nd through mid-1st century BCE
Probably first half of fifth century BCE
4th-3rd century BCE
late 6th-5th centuries BCE
5th century BCE
2nd-1st century BCE
3rd century BCE
Late sixth through fifth centuries BCE
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