Unguent Bottle (Amphoriskos)
Unguent Bottle (Amphoriskos)
Place of OriginEastern Mediterranean, Possibly Syria or Palestine
Date2nd through mid-1st century BCE
DimensionsH: 5 5/16 in. (13.5 cm); Rim Diam: 1 1/16 in. (2.7 cm); Max Diam of Body: 2 5/16 in. (5.8 cm)
Mediumglass
ClassificationGlass
Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number
1923.85
Not on View
DescriptionThis amphoriskos features a dark blue ground streaked with opaque red, adorned with opaque white and opaque turquoise-blue decoration. The vessel has a moderately broad inward-sloping rim-disk, a tall cylindrical neck that tapers upward, and an obtuse-angled shoulder. The broad ovoid body terminates in a convex pointed bottom above a short, spherical base-knob in natural light green with a rounded end. Two vertical golden-yellow strap handles run from the shoulder to the upper neck, rising to the rim-disk.
Decorative threads include a marvered opaque white thread beginning at the edge of the rim-disk and spiraling down in horizontal lines around the neck and shoulder, then tooled into a close-set festoon pattern on the body before continuing in horizontal lines to just above the base-knob. An opaque turquoise-blue thread, also marvered, begins vertically at the top of the neck and intertwines with the white thread along the vessel’s body.
The vessel was made by the core-forming method, with applied rim-disk, handles, base-knob, and marvered 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. 176, p. 172, repr. (col.) p. 108.
2nd-1st century BCE
Probably first half of fifth century BCE
Late sixth through fifth centuries BCE
Late sixth to fifth centuries BCE
Late sixth through fifth centuries BCE
2nd through mid-1st century BCE
6th-5th century BCE
Late 6th - 5th century BCE
5th through early 4th centuries BCE
5th century BCE
about 2nd century BCE
2nd-1st century BCE
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