Unguent Bottle (Amphoriskos)
Unguent Bottle (Amphoriskos)
Place of OriginEastern Mediterranean, possibly Syro-Palestinian region
Date2nd through mid-1st century BCE
DimensionsH: 4 1/2 in. (11.5 cm); Rim Diam: 1 1/8 in. (2.8 cm); Diam: 1 7/8 in. (4.8 cm)
MediumCore-formed; applied rim-disk, handles, and pad-base; applied marvered threads.
ClassificationGlass
Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number
1923.346
Not on View
DescriptionThis core-formed amphoriskos has a light blue body that appears black, with opaque yellow and white decorative threads. The broad rim-disk is uneven and slopes inward. The tall cylindrical neck tapers upward into a rounded shoulder and ovoid body. The convex base ends in a pointed tip, supported by a circular, colorless pad-base with a rounded edge and uneven underside.
A single vertical S-shaped handle, made from colorless glass with a yellowish tint, connects the shoulder to the underside of the rim-disk, passing along the neck. A marvered yellow thread begins at the rim-disk and spirals downward in a festoon pattern around the neck and shoulder. This is followed by a loosely formed feather pattern covering the body to the base. A marvered white thread begins on the shoulder, mingling with the yellow thread down to the pad-base.
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. 178, p. 173.2nd through mid-1st century BCE
3rd through 2nd century BCE
Late sixth through fifth centuries BCE
2nd through mid-1st century BCE
Mid-4th to early 3rd century BCE
2nd through mid-1st century BCE
Mid-4th through early third centuries BCE
3rd century BCE
2nd through mid-1st century BCE
Mid-4th through early 3rd century BCE
2nd through mid-1st century BCE
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