Unguent Bottle (Alabastron)

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Unguent Bottle (Alabastron)

Place of OriginEastern Mediterranean or Italy

DateMid-4th through early 3rd century BCE

DimensionsH: 6 7/8 in. (17.5 cm); Rim Diam: 1 7/8 in. (4.8 cm); Diam: 1 3/4 in. (4.4 cm)

Mediumglass

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.178

Not on View

DescriptionThis tall alabastron has a dark blue ground with white speckling and is decorated with opaque white, yellow, and turquoise-blue threads. It features a broad horizontal rim-disk, uneven on the upperside and sloping outward; a cylindrical neck that tapers distinctly downward; and a pronounced, though uneven, shoulder nearly forming a right angle. The straight-sided cylindrical body tapers upward and ends in a convex bottom. Two large vertical ring handles are applied just below the shoulder. An unmarvered opaque yellow thread is affixed at the edge of the rim-disk. A second yellow thread, marvered, is wound from the shoulder in a single horizontal line and then tooled into a widely spaced festoon pattern extending down the body. Intermingled with this in alternating bands are marvered opaque white and turquoise-blue threads, also formed into festoons. Below this, the same opaque white thread and an additional marvered yellow thread are spiraled in horizontal lines around the lower body. A marvered opaque yellow dot is applied at the center of the bottom. Manufactured using the core-forming technique, the vessel also includes an applied rim-disk, handles, and applied marvered and unmarvered threads.

Published ReferencesWittmann, Otto, ed., The Toledo Museum of Art. A Guide to the Collections, Toledo, Ohio, 1966, p. 2, ill.

Riefstahl, Rudolf M., "The Complexities of Ancient Glass," Apollo 86, 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. 13.

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. 124, p. 153, repr. (col.) p. 101.

Comparative ReferencesSee also Auth, Susan H., Ancient Glass at the Newark Museum, 1976, fig. 11 (for shape and size); and fig. 26 (for festoon pattern of trailed threads).