Unguent Bottle (Alabastron)
Unguent Bottle (Alabastron)
Place of OriginEastern Mediterranean or Italy
Date4th-3rd century BCE
DimensionsH: 3 in. (7.6 cm); Diam: 1 1/8 in. (2.9 cm); Max Diam of Body: 15/16 in. (2.4 cm)
Mediumglass
ClassificationGlass
Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number
1923.107
Not on View
DescriptionMiniature alabastron. Dark green ground (appearing black) with opaque red streaks, with opaque white, opaque yellow, and opaque turquoise-blue decoration. Broad horizontal rim-disk; short, uneven cylindrical neck, tapering upward; vestigial shoulder; cylindrical body with slight upward taper; shallow convex bottom. Below the shoulder, two vertical dark green ring handles, unpierced, with short vestigial tails, each with a depression on one side, but facing opposite directions. Extending from the shoulder to the basal angle, alternating bands of marvered opaque yellow, opaque white, and opaque turquoise-blue threads tooled into a feather pattern arranged in seven vertical panels, each ending in an irregularly shaped loop. Core-formed; applied rim-disk and handles; applied 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. 128, p. 154-155.Exhibition HistoryCranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI, Ancient Egypt, exhibition, no. ex. cat., November 1960-January 1961.
4th-3rd century BCE
Mid-4th through early 3rd centuries BCE
Late sixth through fifth centuries BCE
Late 6th through 5th century BCE
5th century BCE
Late sixth through fifth centuries BCE
6th-5th century BCE
Late sixth through fifth centuries BCE
Late sixth through fifth centuries BCE
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