Unguent Bottle (Amphoriskos)
Unguent Bottle (Amphoriskos)
Place of OriginPossibly Rhodes; found in Al Fayyūm, Egypt
DateLate 6th-5th century BCE
Dimensions2 1/2 × 7/8 × 3 7/8 in. (6.3 × 2.3 × 9.9 cm)
Mediumglass
ClassificationGlass
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number
1916.52
Not on View
DescriptionThis unguent bottle (amphoriskos) is a small, core-formed vessel with a cobalt-blue ground and decorative threads of opaque yellow and turquoise blue. It features a broad, inward-sloping rim-disk, a cylindrical neck that tapers upward, and a top-shaped body ending in a circular base-knob. Two cobalt-blue strap handles run from the shoulder to the top of the neck. Applied decoration includes unmarvered and marvered threads: a yellow thread at the rim, a spiraled and zigzagged yellow thread on the upper body, interwoven with turquoise blue, and additional horizontal threads below. A final yellow thread is wrapped around the edge and underside of the base-knob. Short vertical indentations on the body result from the tooling of the zigzag pattern.
Published References"Early Egyptian Glass," The Toledo Museum of Art Museum News 29, 1917, p. 352.
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. 103, p. 145-146.
Late 6th through 5th century BCE
Late 6th through 5th century BCE
Late 6th - 5th century BCE
Probably first half of 5th century BCE
4th-3rd century BCE
6th-5th century BCE
3rd century BCE
5th century BCE
Late 6th through 5th century BCE
Late 6th through 5th century BCE
Late 6th to 5th century BCE
5th century BCE
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