Unguent Bottle (Amphoriskos)
Unguent Bottle (Amphoriskos)
Place of OriginEastern Mediterranean, possibly from Rhodes, Greece
DateLate sixth through fifth centuries BCE
DimensionsH: 3 1/4 in. (8.2 cm); Diam: 1 in. (2.6 cm); Max Diam of Body: 1 13/16 in. (4.6 cm)
Mediumglass
ClassificationGlass
Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number
1923.184
Not on View
DescriptionThis amphoriskos has a blue ground with opaque yellow and opaque turquoise-blue decoration. It features a broad, inward-sloping rim-disk; a rather tall cylindrical neck; an almost right-angled shoulder; a top-shaped body; and a circular blue base-knob, flat on its underside with a rounded edge. Two vertical blue strap handles extend from the shoulder to just above the middle of the neck.
An unmarvered opaque yellow thread is attached at the edge of the rim-disk. A second opaque yellow thread, marvered, begins on the shoulder and is wound in horizontal spirals over the shoulder and upper body. Below this, two wide opaque turquoise-blue threads and one or more narrow opaque yellow threads, all marvered, are tooled into a close-set zigzag pattern around the middle of the body. Beneath that, a marvered opaque yellow and a turquoise-blue thread are each wound horizontally around the body. A final marvered opaque yellow thread winds around the edge and underside of the base-knob.
Manufactured using the core-forming technique, the vessel includes applied rim-disk, handles, and base-knob, as well as applied marvered and unmarvered threads. Vertical indentations on the body result from the tooling of the zigzags.
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. 98, p. 144.Exhibition HistoryJohn Herron Art Institute, Indianapolis, Ind., Glass Throughout History, exhibition, no. ex. cat., October-December, 1953Late sixth through fifth centuries BCE
Late sixth through fifth centuries BCE
4th-3rd century BCE
Late sixth through fifth centuries BCE
Late sixth to fifth centuries BCE
6th-5th century BCE
Probably first half of fifth century BCE
5th century BCE
Late sixth through fifth centuries BCE
5th century BCE
Late 6th - 5th century BCE
late 6th-5th centuries BCE
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