Unguent Bottle (Amphoriskos)

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Unguent Bottle (Amphoriskos)

Place of OriginEastern Mediterranean

Date2nd-1st century BCE

DimensionsH: 6 1/4 in. (15.9 cm); Rim Diam: 1 1/8 in. (2.9 cm); Diam: 1 1/2 in. (3.8 cm)

Mediumglass

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.101

Not on View

DescriptionThis amphoriskos is made of light blue ground glass with opaque yellow and opaque white decoration. It features a short, uneven horizontal rim-disk and a tall, uneven cylindrical neck that tapers downward. The shoulder is vestigial and set at an oblique angle. The vessel’s body is straight-sided and almost fusiform, ending in a convex pointed bottom. Two vertical s-shaped handles of natural yellowish-green glass extend from the shoulder to the underside of the rim-disk. Each is affixed along the middle of the neck and rises vertically to just above the rim-disk. An opaque yellow and an opaque white thread, both marvered, are attached just below the edge of the rim-disk. These threads are wound spirally in horizontal lines around the neck, then tooled into a feather pattern from the shoulder to the area where the body turns inward, and finally wound again in horizontal lines to the center of the bottom. The vessel is core-formed with trailed and marvered decoration and applied handles.

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, Hudson Hills Press in Association with the Toledo Museum of Art, New York, 1989, Catalog No. 182, p. 174, drawing, p. 108.Comparative ReferencesSee also Auth, Susan H., Ancient Glass at the Newark Museum, 1976, fig. 25, p. 38. (A similar piece, but with base).