Unguent Bottle (Alabastron)
Unguent Bottle (Alabastron)
Place of OriginEastern Mediterranean, possibly from Rhodes
Date5th century BCE
DimensionsH: 3 7/8 in. (9.8 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
1923.142
Not on View
DescriptionAlabastron with an opaque dark brown ground streaked with opaque red, and decorated with opaque yellow and opaque turquoise-blue threads. It has a broad horizontal rim-disk, a rather tall cylindrical neck, an uneven rounded shoulder, and a straight-sided cylindrical body tapering to a convex bottom. Two exceptionally large vertical ring handles with knobbed tails are applied just below the shoulder. An opaque yellow thread, unmarvered, is attached at the edge of the rim-disk. A marvered turquoise-blue thread and a marvered opaque yellow thread begin on the neck, spiraled in a few horizontal lines that largely cover the ground, then tooled into a close-set zigzag pattern extending to the bottom. The vessel is core-formed, with applied rim-disk, handles, and marvered and unmarvered 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. 87, p. 140.
Late sixth through fifth centuries BCE
5th century BCE
late 6th through 5th century BCE
Mid-4th through early 3rd century BCE
Late sixth through fifth centuries BCE
5th century BCE
5th century BCE
Late sixth through fifth centuries BCE
5th century BCE
Membership
Become a TMA member today
Support TMA
Help support the TMA mission