Unguent Bottle (Alabastron)
Unguent Bottle (Alabastron)
Place of OriginEastern Mediterranean or Italy
DateMid-4th through early third centuries BCE
DimensionsH: 7 3/16 in. (18.2 cm); Diam: 1 15/16 in. (5 cm); Max Diam of Body: 1 3/4 in. (4.4 cm)
MediumCore-formed: applied rim-disk and handles; applied marvered and unmarvered threads.
ClassificationGlass
Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number
1923.338
Not on View
DescriptionThis tall core-formed alabastron has a pale green body with a bluish tinge, decorated with opaque white and possibly opaque yellow threads. The broad, horizontal rim-disk has a rounded edge, and the neck tapers downward into a sharply angled shoulder. The cylindrical body has a slight upward taper and ends in a convex base. Two vertical pale green ring handles are attached just below the shoulder; both are unpierced.
Decoration begins with an unmarvered opaque yellow (possibly white) thread attached at the rim-disk’s edge. Below this, a second opaque yellow and an opaque white thread, both marvered, are wound in near-horizontal, wavy lines around the shoulder. These threads are then tooled into a widely spaced feather pattern, divided into eight vertical panels extending to the base and ending in irregular loops.
Published ReferencesHayes, John W., Roman and Pre-Roman Glass in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, 1975, p. 13
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. 123, p. 152-153, repr. (col.) p. 101.
Mid-4th through early 3rd centuries BCE
2nd through mid-1st century BCE
Late sixth through fifth centuries BCE
Late sixth through fifth centuries BCE
Late sixth through fifth centuries BCE
Mid-4th to early 3rd century BCE
3rd through 2nd century BCE
2nd through mid-1st century BCE
3rd century BCE
New Kingdom, Eighteenth Dynasty, about 1412-1350 BCE
Late sixth through fifth centuries BCE
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