Unguent Bottle (Alabastron)
Unguent Bottle (Alabastron)
Place of OriginEastern Mediterranean or Italy
Date4th-3rd century BCE
DimensionsH: 4 7/8 in. (12.4 cm); Diam: 1 1/2 in. (3.8 cm); Max Diam of Body: 1 5/8 in. (4 cm)
Mediumglass
ClassificationGlass
Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number
1923.82
Not on View
DescriptionThis alabastron is core-formed with a cobalt-blue glass ground and decorated with opaque white, opaque yellow, and medium blue threads. It features a broad, slightly sloped rim-disk and a cylindrical neck that tapers upward. The vessel has a distinct shoulder with rounded angles and a straight-sided, uneven body that tapers upward, reaching its greatest diameter just above the base. The bottom is shallow and unevenly convex.
Two unpierced cobalt-blue ring handles with straight vestigial tails are applied below the shoulder. An unmarvered opaque yellow thread is attached to the edge of the rim-disk. The body is decorated with alternating bands of marvered medium blue, opaque white, and opaque yellow threads, arranged in a six-panel feather pattern. Each panel terminates in a pronounced loop above the base. The vessel was manufactured using core-forming with applied rim-disk, handles, and both marvered and unmarvered decorative threads.
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. 127, p. 154.
Mid-4th through early 3rd centuries BCE
about 350-275 BCE
Mid-4th through early 3rd century BCE
mid-late 4th century BCE
late 6th through 5th century BCE
Mid-4th through early third centuries BCE
4th-3rd century BCE
5th century BCE
4th-3rd century BCE
Mid-4th through early 3rd century BCE
2nd through mid-1st century BCE
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