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Unguent Bottle (Amphoriskos)

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Unguent Bottle (Amphoriskos)

Place of OriginEastern Mediterranean, possibly from Syro-Palestinian region
Date2nd through mid-1st century BCE
DimensionsH: 5 5/8 in. (14.3 cm); Rim Diam: 1 5/16 in. (3.3 cm); Diam: 1 15/16 in. (4.9 cm)
Mediumglass
ClassificationGlass
Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number
1923.187
Not on View
DescriptionAmphoriskos. Blue ground streaked with opaque red, with opaque white decoration. Moderately broad, inward-sloping rim-disk; rather tall cylindrical neck; obtuse-angled shoulder; elongated ovoid body; convex pointed bottom; short, bulbous base-knob, colorless with a slight greenish tinge, with an out-turned, rounded end. Two vertical strap handles, both colorless with a slight greenish tinge, extend from the shoulder to the upper part of the neck, rising to just below the rim-disk. A marvered opaque white thread begun on the upperside and edge of the rim-disk and wound spirally, at first in almost horizontal lines around the neck and shoulder, then tooled into a feather pattern from below the shoulder to the lower body, and finally, in horizontal lines to just above the base-knob. Core-formed glass; applied rim-disk, handles, and base-knob; applied marvered threads.
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, Hudson Hills Press in Association with the Toledo Museum of Art, New York, 1989, cat. no. 168, p. 169, repr. (col.) p. 107, drawing, p. 407.

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