Unguent Bottle (Alabastron)

Image Not Available

Expand

IIIFView PDF

Unguent Bottle (Alabastron)

Place of OriginEastern Mediterranean, possibly from Rhodes

Date5th century BCE

DimensionsH: 4 1/8 in. (10.5 cm); Diam: 1 1/8 in. (2.9 cm); Max Diam of Body: 1 1/8 in. (2.8 cm)

Mediumglass

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.92

Not on View

DescriptionThis unguent bottle (alabastron) has an opaque dark brown ground with decoration in opaque yellow and opaque turquoise-blue. It features a broad horizontal rim-disk, unusually symmetrical and even on both its upper and underside, a short cylindrical neck, a pronounced rounded shoulder, a straight-sided cylindrical body, and a convex bottom that is nearly flat at the center. Below the shoulder are two long, vertical ring handles made of the same opaque dark brown glass, each ending in a knobbed tail. An unmarvered opaque yellow thread is applied at the edge of the rim-disk. A second opaque yellow thread and an opaque turquoise-blue thread, both marvered, begin on the neck and are spirally wound in nearly horizontal lines to just above the bottom of the vessel. The bottle is core-formed, with applied rim-disk, handles, and both marvered and unmarvered threads. This unguent bottle (alabastron) has an opaque dark brown ground with decoration in opaque yellow and opaque turquoise-blue. It features a broad horizontal rim-disk, unusually symmetrical and even on both its upper and underside, a short cylindrical neck, a pronounced rounded shoulder, a straight-sided cylindrical body, and a convex bottom that is nearly flat at the center. Below the shoulder are two long, vertical ring handles made of the same opaque dark brown glass, each ending in a knobbed tail. An unmarvered opaque yellow thread is applied at the edge of the rim-disk. A second opaque yellow thread and an opaque turquoise-blue thread, both marvered, begin on the neck and are spirally wound in nearly horizontal lines to just above the bottom of the vessel. The bottle is core-formed, with applied rim-disk, handles, and both 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. 90, p. 141.