Unguent Bottle (Unguentarium)
Unguent Bottle (Unguentarium)
Place of OriginEastern Mediterranean or Italy
Date3rd century BCE
DimensionsH: 4 in. (10.1 cm); Rim Diam: 1 3/8 in. (2.6 cm); Diam: 1 3/8 in. (3.5 cm); Base Diam: 1 in. (2.5 cm)
Mediumglass
ClassificationGlass
Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number
1923.110
Not on View
DescriptionThis core-formed unguentarium has a cobalt-blue ground decorated with opaque yellow (appearing orangish) and opaque white threads. The vessel features a thick, moderately broad horizontal rim-disk with a rounded edge, a tall cylindrical neck, and an obtuse-angled shoulder leading into a tapering ovoid body that ends in a pointed bottom. The outsplayed foot is tall, also cobalt blue, and has a deep cavity on its underside. An opaque yellow thread, partly marvered, and a marvered opaque white thread begin near the top of the neck and are wound spirally in horizontal lines. These continue diagonally across the shoulder and onto the body, where they are tooled into a shallow horizontal zigzag pattern and then return to nearly horizontal lines around the midsection.
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. 158, p. 166, repr. (col.) p. 106.3rd century BCE
Mid-4th through early 3rd centuries BCE
Probably first half of fifth century BCE
5th century BCE
Mid-4th through early 3rd century BCE
3rd century BCE
3rd through 2nd century BCE
Late 6th - 5th century BCE
Mid-4th through early 3rd centuries BCE
3rd century BCE
3rd century BCE
Late sixth through fifth centuries BCE
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