Unguent Bottle (Alabastron)
Unguent Bottle (Alabastron)
Place of OriginEastern Mediterranean or Italy
DateMid-4th through early 3rd century BCE
DimensionsH: 6 5/16 in. (16 cm); Diam: 1 1/8 in. (2.9 cm); Max Diam of Body: 1 1/2 in. (3.8 cm)
Mediumglass
ClassificationGlass
Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number
1923.189
Not on View
DescriptionThis alabastron features an opaque medium blue ground streaked with a few red lines and scattered white speckles. The vessel has a moderately broad, inward-sloping rim-disk and an uneven, tapering cylindrical neck. Its shoulder meets the body at an obtuse angle, and the cylindrical body tapers inward near the basal angle. The bottom is uneven and convex.
Just below the shoulder are two small blue lugs, each marked by an upward-facing depression. A marvered opaque yellow thread begins at the neck and spirals once horizontally to the shoulder, where it is joined by a marvered opaque white thread. The two threads are tooled into a roughly executed zigzag pattern that continues to the basal angle. The object was made using the core-forming technique, with applied rim-disk, lugs, and marvered threads. The zigzag tooling created shallow vertical indentations along the body.
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. 130, p. 155.4th-3rd century BCE
2nd through mid-1st century BCE
Mid-4th through early 3rd century BCE
4th-3rd century BCE
Mid-4th through early 3rd century BCE
4th-3rd century BCE
Mid-4th through early 3rd century BCE
mid 4th-early 3rd century BCE
Mid-4th through early 3rd century BCE
4th-early 3rd century BCE
Mid-4th through early 3rd century BCE
2nd through mid-1st century BCE
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