Unguent Bottle (Alabastron)

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Unguent Bottle (Alabastron)

Place of OriginEastern Mediterranean or Italy

DateMid-4th through early 3rd centuries BCE

DimensionsH: 5 9/16 in. (14.1 cm); Diam: 11 5/8 in. (4.2 cm); Max Diam of Body: 1 9/16 in. (4 cm)

Mediumglass

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.93

Not on View

DescriptionThis unguent bottle (alabastron) has a dark blue ground with numerous white speckles and applied decoration in opaque white, opaque yellow, and opaque medium blue. It features a thick, broad horizontal rim-disk with a rounded edge, a short cylindrical neck, a round-angled shoulder, and a wide cylindrical body that is straight-sided but tapers slightly upward. The bottom is convex. Below the shoulder are two small dark blue lugs, each with a slight depression on one side. A marvered opaque yellow thread begins on the shoulder and is spirally wound three times in horizontal lines, then tooled into a feather pattern. This decoration continues below the shoulder, where it is joined by a marvered opaque white thread and later by a marvered opaque medium blue thread. These three threads are tooled in alternating bands into a feather pattern arranged in twelve vertical panels, some of which end in irregularly shaped loops. The vessel is core-formed, with marvered threads and visible tooling marks on the underside of the rim-disk.

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. 129, p. 155.