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Unguent Bottle (Alabastron)

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Unguent Bottle (Alabastron)

Place of OriginEastern Mediterranean or Italy
DateMid-4th through early 3rd centuries BCE
DimensionsH: 6 5/8 in. (16.8 cm); Rim Diam: 2 1/8 in. (5.4 cm); Diam: 1 11/16 in. (4.3 cm)
Mediumglass
ClassificationGlass
Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number
1923.157
Not on View
DescriptionThis tall alabastron has a cobalt-blue ground with opaque white, opaque yellow, and opaque medium blue decoration. The broad horizontal rim-disk slopes slightly outward. A cylindrical neck tapers upward into a round-angled shoulder. The body is straight-sided and cylindrical with a slight upward taper and terminates in a convex bottom. Below the shoulder are two unpierced cobalt-blue vertical ring handles with straight vertical tails. An unmarvered opaque yellow (appearing orangish) thread is attached at the edge of the rim-disk. Below this, alternating bands of opaque yellow, opaque white, and opaque medium blue threads—all marvered—are applied from the shoulder to the basal angle. These are tooled into a close-set feather pattern arranged in nine vertical panels, each terminating just above the base in a well-defined loop. This vessel is core-formed, with applied rim-disk and handles, and applied marvered and unmarvered threads.
Published ReferencesHayes, 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. 125, p. 153-154, repr. (col.) p. 101.

Page, Jutta-Annette, The Art of Glass: Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio, Toledo Museum of Art, 2006, p. 22, repr. (col.) fig. 3F, p. 23.

Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, The Unseen Art of TMA: What's in the Vaults and Why?, Sept. 12, 2004 - Jan. 2, 2005 (no catalog or checklist).

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