Unguent Bottle (Aryballos)

Place of OriginEastern Mediterranean, possibly from Rhodes

DateSecond half of 5th through early 4th centuries BCE

DimensionsH: 2 1/2 in. (6.4 cm); Rim Diam: 1 1/8 in. (2.9 cm); Max Diam of Body: 1 1/4 in. (3.2 cm); Base Diam: 2 1/8 in. (5.4 cm)

Mediumglass

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.81

Not on View

DescriptionThis aryballos is core-formed from blue glass ground and decorated with opaque white thread. It has a broad, inward-sloping rim-disk, cylindrical neck, rounded shoulder, and thick-walled, nearly spherical body. The base is convex, and two vertical strap handles, made from the same blue glass, extend from the shoulder to the neck. An unmarvered opaque white thread is applied to the edge and upper side of the rim-disk. A second opaque white thread, marvered, begins at the shoulder and is wound in horizontal spirals. It is tooled into a broad inverted festoon pattern that extends to the mid-body, with a second festoon pattern continuing toward the base. Vertical indentations caused by the tooling are clearly visible. The vessel was made by applying marvered and unmarvered threads and attaching separately formed handles and rim-disk.

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. 121, p. 152.