Unguent Bottle (Alabastron)

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Unguent Bottle (Alabastron)

Place of OriginEastern Mediterranean, possibly from Rhodes

DateLate 6th through 5th century BCE

DimensionsH: 5 1/16 in. (12.9 cm); Diam: 1 3/8 in. (3.5 cm)

Mediumglass

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.155

Not on View

DescriptionThis alabastron has an opaque white ground with purple decoration. It features a broad, horizontal rim-disk that is slightly asymmetrical and uneven on its upper surface. The short cylindrical neck leads to a rounded, vestigial shoulder and an almost cylindrical body that tapers slightly upward. The base is convex. Two opaque white vertical ring handles with knobbed tails are applied just below the shoulder. An uneven, unmarvered purple thread is attached at the edge of the rim-disk. A second purple thread, marvered, begins on the neck and is wound spirally at first in nearly horizontal lines, then tooled into an uneven zigzag pattern extending below the middle of the body. Beneath this, a third thread, partly marvered, is wound horizontally six times around the body. At the center of the bottom, there is a rough, partly marvered opaque white dot. The vessel is core-formed, with applied rim-disk and handles, and decorated with applied marvered, partly marvered, and unmarvered threads. Tooling marks are visible on the underside of the rim, and vertical indentations on the body were caused by the tooling of the zigzag pattern..

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. 65, p. 133.Comparative ReferencesSee also Hayes, John W., Roman and Pre-Roman Glass in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, 1975, no. 17, p. 11.