Unguent Bottle (Amphoriskos)
Unguent Bottle (Amphoriskos)
Place of OriginEastern Mediterranean, possibly Syro-Palestinian region
Date2nd through mid-1st century BCE
DimensionsH: 5 15/16 in. (15.1 cm); Rim Diam: 15/16 in. (2.4 cm); Diam: 2 3/4 in. (7 cm)
Mediumglass
ClassificationGlass
Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number
1923.130
Not on View
DescriptionThis core-formed amphoriskos features a blue ground streaked with opaque red, decorated with marvered opaque white and yellow threads. It has a narrow, uneven, inward-sloping horizontal rim-disk, a tall cylindrical neck, and a short, obtuse-angled shoulder. The narrow, elongated ovoid body tapers to an almost pointed bottom, which rests on a small, rounded blue-green base-knob with an uneven end. Two vertical, colorless strap handles rise from the shoulder to just below the rim-disk.
Decorative threads—an opaque white and an opaque yellow, both marvered—are attached at the rim-disk’s edge and spiraled around the neck and shoulder in nearly horizontal lines. These continue in a loosely executed feather pattern down the body and conclude in horizontal spirals just above the base-knob.
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. 173, p. 171.
2nd-1st century BCE
2nd through mid-1st century BCE
2nd through mid-1st century BCE
5th century BCE
Late sixth through fifth centuries BCE
Probably first half of fifth century BCE
3rd century BCE
Late 6th - 5th century BCE
5th century BCE
2nd-1st century BCE
2nd through mid-1st century BCE
2nd-1st century BCE
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