Unguent Bottle (Oinochoe)

Place of OriginEastern Mediterranean or Italy

DateMid-4th through early 3rd century BCE

DimensionsH: 4 1/4 in. (10.8 cm); Rim Diam: 1 5/16 in. (3.4 cm); Diam: 2 7/16 in. (6.2 cm); Diam of Base: 1 11/16 in. (4.3 cm)

Mediumglass

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.169

Not on View

DescriptionThis small core-formed oinochoe has a golden-yellow ground decorated with opaque yellow, opaque white, and opaque turquoise-blue threads. It features a broad trefoil rim-disk with the vertical lip of the vessel visible inside, a cylindrical neck, and a sharply angled transition to a rounded shoulder. The straight-sided, thick-walled body tapers slightly downward and rests on a low circular pad-base, which is asymmetrical and nearly flat on its underside. A golden-yellow strap handle arches from the top of the shoulder to the edge of the rim-disk. An unmarvered opaque yellow thread is attached at the edge of the rim-disk, with a second unmarvered yellow thread wound spirally in horizontal lines from the top to just above the bottom of the neck. On the shoulder, a marvered opaque yellow thread is wound in a straight horizontal line and then tooled into a feather pattern that extends to the base. This decoration is interspersed with alternating marvered threads of opaque white and opaque turquoise-blue. An unmarvered opaque yellow thread is wound around the edge of the pad-base. Manufactured using the core-forming technique, the vessel also includes applied rim-disk, handle, pad-base, and applied marvered and unmarvered threads. Tooling has left short vertical indentations on the shoulder.

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. 150, p. 163, repr. (col.) p. 104.