Unguent Bottle (Oinochoe)

Place of OriginEastern Mediterranean, possibly Rhodes

DateLate 6th through 5th century BCE

DimensionsH: 4 7/16 in. (11.2 cm); Rim Diam: 1 1/2 in. (3.8 cm); Max Diam of Body: 2 7/16 in. (6.2 cm); Base Diam: 1 1/4 in. (3.2 cm)

Mediumglass

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.88

Not on View

DescriptionThis oinochoe is formed from opaque white glass with purple decoration. The vessel has a broad trefoil rim-disk and a short cylindrical neck. The shoulder meets the neck at an almost right angle and gives way to a globular body that sits atop a convex bottom. The vessel is supported by an outsplayed opaque white foot, concave on its underside. A single opaque white strap handle extends from the shoulder to the rim-disk and arches prominently above the mouth. An unmarvered purple thread is attached at the edge of the rim-disk. A second purple thread, marvered, begins on the shoulder and is wound spirally in horizontal lines before being tooled into a close-set zigzag pattern that extends to the middle of the body. Below this, a third, thin marvered purple thread is wound horizontally three times around the body. A fourth purple thread, unmarvered, is wrapped around the edge of the foot. The vessel was core-formed, with applied rim-disk, handle, and foot, as well as applied marvered and unmarvered 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. 111, p. 148.