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

DescriptionOinochoe. Golden-yellow ground with opaque yellow, opaque white, and opaque turquoise-blue decoration. Broad trefoil rim-disk with the vertical lip of the oinochoe visible within; cylindrical neck; distinct right-angled junction with rounded shoulder; straight-sided, thick-walled, almost cylindrical body with slight downward taper; low, circular golden-yellow pad-base, asymmetrical and almost flat on its underside. A golden-yellow strap handle extends from the top of the shoulder to the edge of the rim-disk; the handle arches above the rim-disk. An unmarvered opaque yellow thread attached at the edge of the rim-disk; a second unmarvered opaque yellow thread begun at the top of the neck and wound spirally in horizontal lines to just above the bottom of the neck; a third opaque yellow thread, marvered, begun on the shoulder and wound horizontally once in a straight line, then tooled into a feather pattern extending to the base; mingling with it in alternating bands, an opaque white and an opaque turquoise-blue thread, both marvered; an unmarvered opaque yellow thread is wound around the edge of the pad-base. Core-formed; applied rim-disk, handle, and pad-base; applied marvered and unmarvered threads. Short vertical indentations on the shoulder caused by the tooling of the feather 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. 150, p. 163, repr. (col.) p. 104.