Unguent Bottle (Alabastron)
Unguent Bottle (Alabastron)
Place of OriginEastern Mediterranean, Possibly Syria or Palestine
Date2nd through mid-1st century BCE
DimensionsH: 4 15/16 in. (12.5 cm); Rim Diam: 1 in. (2.6 cm); Diam: 1 1/2 in. (3.8 cm)
MediumCore-formed; applied rim-disk and lugs; applied marvered and unmarvered threads.
ClassificationGlass
Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number
1923.348
Not on View
DescriptionThis core-formed alabastron has a cobalt-blue body with opaque white and yellow decorative threads. The moderately broad, inward-sloping rim-disk is uneven with a rounded edge. A tall cylindrical neck tapers downward to a vestigial curving shoulder. The elongated oval body ends in a convex pointed base. Two cobalt-blue lugs are applied below the shoulder; one has a small upward-facing depression.
An unmarvered opaque white thread is applied at the rim-disk and wound spirally around the neck. At the shoulder, a marvered yellow thread is added and mingles with the white. Together, they are tooled into an uneven feather pattern arranged in eight loosely defined vertical panels that extend to the 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. 165, p. 168.
2nd through mid-1st century BCE
2nd through mid-1st century BCE
Late 6th through 5th century BCE
Late 6th through 5th century BCE
Mid-4th to early 3rd century BCE
18th Dynasty (1550-1292 BCE), about 1400 to 1350 BCE
Mid-4th through early 3rd century BCE
Late 6th through 5th century BCE
Mid-4th through early 3rd century BCE
2nd through mid-1st century BCE
3rd through 2nd century BCE
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