Unguent Bottle (Oinochoe)
Unguent Bottle (Oinochoe)
Place of OriginEastern Mediterranean, possibly Rhodes
DateLate 6th through 5th centuries BCE
DimensionsH: 4 15/16 in. (10.9 cm); Rim Diam: 1 1/4 in. (3.2 cm); Max Diam of Body: 2 1/2 in. (6.4 cm); Base Diam: 1 3/8 in. (3.5 cm)
Mediumglass
ClassificationGlass
Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number
1923.89
Not on View
DescriptionThis oinochoe is made of light blue ground with opaque yellow and opaque turquoise-blue decoration. It features a broad trefoil rim-disk and a short cylindrical neck, with the lip of the vessel visible within. The shoulder meets the neck at an almost right angle and transitions into a broad ovoid body with a convex bottom. The vessel rests on a short outsplayed light blue foot, concave on its underside.
An opaque light blue strap handle rises from the shoulder to the rim-disk, arching well above it. At the edge of the rim-disk are two narrow unmarvered threads—one opaque yellow and one opaque turquoise-blue. Another opaque yellow thread, marvered, begins on the shoulder and is wound spirally in four horizontal lines before being tooled into a zigzag pattern over the middle of the body. Below this, a marvered opaque turquoise-blue thread is spiraled twice around the lower body. The edge of the foot is streaked with opaque yellow and turquoise-blue.
The vessel was core-formed, with applied rim-disk, handle, and foot, and decorated with applied marvered and unmarvered threads. Vertical indentations and scratches on the body were caused by the tooling of the zigzag pattern.
Published ReferencesGrose, David F., "Ancient Glass," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News 20, no. 3, 1978, p. 67 and cover.
Grose, David F., "The Origins and Early History of Glass," in The History of Glass, eds. Dan Dlein and Ward Lloyd, London, 1984, p. 17, ill.
Grose, 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. 116, p. 150.
Late 6th through 5th century BCE
Late 6th through 5th century BCE
Probably first half of 5th century BCE
Late 6th through 5th centuries BCE
Mid 4th-early 3rd BCE
4th-3rd century BCE
5th century BCE
Probably first half of fifth century BCE
Mid-4th through early 3rd century BCE
about 350-275 BCE
Late sixth through fifth centuries BCE
Late 6th through 5th centuries BCE
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