1. Amphoriskos

Condition

Mended; neck, foot, and handles modern additions. There is a small amount of discoloration in this area. There are a few minor nicks and scratches.

Description

Amphoriskos: neck and rim are not preserved; preserved examples indicate it probably had a horizontal rim with an almost pointed edge and funnel-shaped neck. Obtuse-angled junction with rounded shoulder; inverted piriform body; convex bottom; tall, outward-splayed medium blue foot, concave on its underside with a rounded edge. Traces of four dark blue handles, probably originally vertical loop handles, are preserved on the shoulder.

Marvered white, turquoise, and yellow threads spirally wound around the body from shoulders to almost the bottom eight times and dragged 19 times upwards, forming a festoon pattern.

Comments and Comparanda

Based on its shape (Nolte 1968, p. 165 amphoriskoi, form III.f, wherein several parallels are cited) and decoration, this vessel belongs among the products of a workshop, known in bibliography as “Workshop 2,” which was established early in the reign of Amenhotep III at Malkata and continued its operation during Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten in Amarna (Nolte 1968, workshop 2a, pp. 88–93). The vessels of this group are characterized by their garlands, and they can be subdivided into groups 2a and 2b. This vessel belongs to group 2a, where the garland thread is usually thin and even, drawn out with small arches and very curved; the second group shows irregular garlands, sometimes narrower, sometimes wider, and often curved in large arches. Usually the decoration comprises yellow, white, and turquoise threads on an opaque dark blue to translucent dark blue background, just like this vessel and cat. 3. The vessels of the first group are elegant, elongated, and slender, and those of the second group are broader and more compact.

For paralells, see Nolte 1968, pp. 88–93, plates VI:4; VII:8, 9, 11. Also Grose 1989, pp. 59–60, no. 5, for a two-handled example; for a four-handled parallel, see the Metropolitan Museum of Art piece that has been dated to the period of Amenhotep III–Akhenaten, ca. 1391–1336 BCE, 26.7.1177: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/544828.

Provenance

By 1974–1988, Erwin Oppenländer, 1901–1988 (Waiblingen, Germany), by inheritance to his son, Gert Oppenländer, 1988; 1988–2003, Gert Oppenländer (Waiblingen, Germany), sold to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 2003

Bibliography

von Saldern et al. 1974, p. 18, no. 2; p. 21, ill.

Wight 2011 pp. 28, 30, fig. 15.

Exhibitions

Molten Color: Glassmaking in Antiquity (Malibu, 2005–2006; 2007; 2009–2010)

Gläser der Antike: Sammlung Erwin Oppenländer (Hamburg and Cologne, 1974–1975)