Unguent Bottle (Amphoriskos)
Unguent Bottle (Amphoriskos)
Place of OriginPossibly Rhodes; found in Al Fayyūm, Egypt
Date6th-5th century BCE
Dimensions3 1/2 × 2 3/16 × 1 1/8 in. (8.9 × 5.5 × 2.9 cm)
Mediumglass
ClassificationGlass
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number
1916.53
Not on View
DescriptionThis unguent bottle is core-formed (amphoriskos); applied rim-disk, handles, and base-knob; applied marvered and unmarvered threads.
Blue ground with opaque yellow and opaque turquoise-blue decoration. Broad, uneven, inward-sloping rim-disk; cylindrical neck; almost right-angled shoulder; top-shaped body; circular blue base-knob with rounded edge. Two blue vertical strap handles extend from the shoulder to the middle of the neck. An unmarvered opaque yellow thread attached at the edge of the rim-disk; a second opaque yellow thread, marvered, begun on the shoulder and wound spirally in horizontal lines, then tooled into a zigzag pattern on the shoulder, at which point a wide marvered opaque turquoise-blue thread is added; below this, an opaque yellow and an opaque turquoise-blue thread, both marvered, are each wound horizontally once around the middle of the body. The vessel is almost complete but was broken on the rim-disk, neck, and handles and subsequently repaired, with small losses in these areas. Surface shows slight iridescence and pitting.
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, New York, Hudson Hills Press in association with the Toledo Museum of Art, 1989, Cat. No. 97, p. 144.
"Early Egyptian Glass," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News 29, 1917, p. 352.
Late sixth through fifth centuries BCE
Late sixth to fifth centuries BCE
Late sixth through fifth centuries BCE
4th-3rd century BCE
Late sixth through fifth centuries BCE
Late 6th - 5th century BCE
Probably first half of fifth century BCE
5th century BCE
Late sixth through fifth centuries BCE
5th century BCE
Late 6th through 5th centuries BCE
2nd-1st century BCE
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