Unguent Bottle (Amphoriskos)

Place of OriginEastern Mediterranean or Italy

DateMid-4th through early 3rd century BCE

DimensionsH: 5 7/16 in. (13.8 cm); Diam: 1 11/16 in. (4.3 cm); Max Diam of Body: 2 5/8 in. (6.7 cm); Diam of Base: 1 1/16 in. (2.7cm)

Mediumglass

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.185

Not on View

DescriptionLarge amphoriskos. Cobalt-blue ground with white speckles, with opaque white and opaque yellow decoration. Broad, inward sloping rim-disk, uneven on its upperside; cylindrical neck with downward taper; obtuse-angled junction with rounded shoulder; tall, ovoid body; convex bottom; moderately broad, circular cobalt-blue pad-base with a rounded edge and a small depression on the underside at the center. Two vertical cobalt-blue strap handles extend from the shoulder to the middle of the neck. An unmarvered opaque yellow thread attached at the edge of the rim-disk; a second unmarvered opaque yellow thread begun at the middle of the neck and wound spirally three times in horizontal lines; an opaque white thread, marvered, begun on the shoulder and wound spirally, at first in wavy horizontal lines, then tooled into a feather pattern arranged in ten vertical panels, extending to below the basal angle, where they end in loops; an unmarvered opaque yellow thread is wound around the edge of the pad-base. Core-formed; applied rim-disk, handles, and pad-base; applied marvered and unmarvered threads.

Published ReferencesGrose, 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. 141, p. 159, Repr. (col.) p. 103.