Unguent Bottle (Alabastron)
Unguent Bottle (Alabastron)
Place of OriginEastern Mediterranean, possibly from Rhodes, Greece
DateLate 6th through 5th century BCE
DimensionsH: 4 1/2 in. (11.4 cm); Diam: 1 7/16 in. (3.6 cm); Max Diam of Body: 1 1/4 in. (3.2 cm)
MediumCore-formed; applied rim-disk and handles; applied marvered and unmarvered threads.
ClassificationGlass
Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number
1923.337
Not on View
DescriptionThis core-formed glass alabastron features a blue ground with opaque yellow and turquoise-blue decorative threads. The broad, uneven rim-disk has a short cylindrical neck. The vessel's asymmetrical profile includes one sharply angled shoulder and one gently curving shoulder, tapering slightly upward into a convex base. Two vertical blue ring handles with knobbed tails are attached below the shoulder, slightly askew.
Decorative elements include an unmarvered yellow thread at the rim’s edge, followed by a marvered yellow thread that spirals down the neck and body. Initially wound in near-horizontal lines, it transitions into a tooled zigzag pattern at mid-body, where it mingles with an added turquoise-blue thread. A third yellow thread, also marvered, is wound twice horizontally around the lower body.
Published ReferencesHayes, John W., Roman and Pre-Roman Glass in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, 1975, p. 9.
Grose, 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. 69, p. 134-135, repr.
Late 6th through 5th century BCE
Late 6th through 5th century BCE
2nd through mid-1st century BCE
Mid-4th to early 3rd century BCE
Late 6th through 5th century BCE
Mid-4th through early 3rd century BCE
Mid-4th through early 3rd century BCE
Late 6th through 5th century BCE
18th Dynasty (1550-1292 BCE), about 1400-1350 BCE
Late 18th or 19th Century (1400-1225 BCE)
2nd through mid-1st century BCE
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