Unguent Bottle (Oinochoe)

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Unguent Bottle (Oinochoe)

Place of OriginEastern Mediterranean, possibly from Rhodes

DateProbably first half of 5th century BCE

DimensionsH: 3 11/16 in. (9.4 cm); Rim Diam: 15/16 in. (2.4 cm); Diam: 2 1/8 in. (5.4 cm); Base Diam: 1 in. (2.5 cm)

Mediumglass

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.134

Not on View

DescriptionThis oinochoe is made of core-formed glass with a cobalt-blue ground and opaque yellow and opaque turquoise-blue decoration. It features a broad but thin trefoil rim-disk; a narrow cylindrical neck; an obtuse-angled junction with a straight shoulder; an ovoid body; and a convex bottom. The outsplayed cobalt-blue foot is unusually even and symmetrical, with a concave underside. A cobalt-blue strap handle extends from the shoulder to the rim-disk and arches above it. Decorative threads are applied in a complex arrangement. A narrow, unmarvered opaque yellow thread is attached at the edge of the rim-disk, followed by a broader marvered opaque yellow thread wound horizontally around the top of the neck. Another marvered opaque yellow thread begins on the neck, wound spirally in nearly horizontal lines around the neck and shoulder—although only impressions of this thread remain. This is followed by a zigzag pattern that is largely covered by a wide, marvered opaque turquoise-blue thread also tooled into a zigzag. Below this, an opaque yellow and an opaque turquoise-blue thread, both marvered, are wound horizontally once around the body. A marvered opaque yellow thread is wound around the edge of the foot. Vertical indentations on the body were caused by the tooling of the zigzags. The vessel was made using the core-forming technique, with applied rim-disk, handle, and foot, and both marvered and unmarvered decorative 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. 118, p. 151, repr. (col.) p. 99.Comparative ReferencesSee also Fossing, Paul, Glass Vessels Before Glass Blowing, Copenhagen, 1940, pp. 42-85. Cf. Dusenberry, Elsbeth B., "Ancient Glass from the Cemetenes of Samothrace," JOURNAL OF GLASS STUDIES, Vol. 9, 1967, nos. 1-2. Cf. von Saldern, Axel, et al., Gläser der Antike, Sammlung Erwin Oppenländer, Hamburg, 1974, no. 115-221. Cf. Hayes, John W., Roman and Pre-Roman Glass in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, 1975, nos. 4-19.