Unguent Bottle (Amphoriskos)
Unguent Bottle (Amphoriskos)
Place of OriginEastern Mediterranean or Italy
Date3rd century BCE
DimensionsH: 3 3/8 in. (8.6 cm); Rim Diam: 15/16 in. (2.4 cm); Diam: 1 7/16 in. (3.7 cm)
Mediumglass
ClassificationGlass
Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number
1923.111
Not on View
DescriptionThis small core-formed amphoriskos has a dark blue ground (appearing black) decorated with a single opaque yellow thread. The vessel features a narrow horizontal rim-disk with a rounded edge, a tall cylindrical neck with a slight upward taper, and an ovoid body that ends in a convex, pointed bottom. A fairly long, dark blue twisted base-knob extends from the base. Two vertical blue strap handles join the shoulder to just below the rim-disk. A marvered opaque yellow thread is applied at the rim and wound in two horizontal lines around the neck, then tooled into a close-set zigzag pattern below the shoulder. The thread continues in nearly horizontal spirals around the lower body. Tooling marks from the zigzag pattern create short, pronounced vertical indentations on the shoulder.
Published ReferencesHayes, John W., Roman and Pre-Roman Glass in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, 1975, p. 14.
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. 145, p. 160-161.
Comparative ReferencesSee also von Saldern, Axel, et al., Gläser Der Antike, Sammlung Oppenländer, Hamburg, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, 1974, fig. 208, p. 77.Late 6th through 5th century BCE
Mid-4th through early 3rd century BCE
3rd century BCE
Late 6th through 5th century BCE
2nd-1st century BCE
5th century BCE
5th through early 4th century BCE
Late 6th - 5th century BCE
Late 6th through 5th century BCE
3rd century BCE
2nd through mid- 1st century BCE
2nd through mid-1st century BCE
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