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: 15/16 in. (2.4 cm); Diam: 1 7/16 in. (3.7 cm)
MediumCore-formed; applied rim-disk and lugs; applied marvered threads.
ClassificationGlass
Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number
1923.349
Not on View
DescriptionThis core-formed alabastron has a dark blue ground (appearing black) decorated with opaque yellow (appearing orangish) marvered threads. The moderately broad rim-disk is lopsided, uneven, and slightly inward-sloping, with the lip extending vertically above the disk. The cylindrical neck tapers slightly upward into a vestigial shoulder. The body is fusiform with straight sides and an almost pointed bottom. Two blue lugs are applied below the shoulder, each with a depression—one angled outward, the other upward.
An opaque yellow thread begins at the rim-disk and is wound spirally around the neck in near-horizontal lines. From the shoulder downward, the thread is tooled into a festoon pattern, ending where the body narrows. At this point, the thread resumes a spiral pattern, wrapping in horizontal lines down to the center of the bottom.
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. 167, p. 169, repr. (col.) p. 107.
Hayes, John W., Roman and Pre-Roman Glass in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, 1975, p. 14.
2nd through mid-1st century BCE
2nd through mid-1st century BCE
3rd through 2nd century BCE
3rd century BCE
Mid-4th through early 3rd century BCE
2nd through mid-1st century BCE
18th Dynasty (1550-1292 BCE), about 1400 to 1350 BCE
3rd century BCE
Late 6th through 5th century BCE
Late 6th through 5th century BCE
Late 6th through 5th century BCE
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