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Catalogue

11. Alabastron

Accession Number 2004.5
Dimensions H. 13.2, Diam. rim 3.4, max. Diam. 4.2 cm; Wt. 99.43 g
Date Late sixth–fifth centuries BCE
Production Area Eastern Mediterranean, possibly Rhodes
Material Opaque white and translucent purple glass
Modeling Technique and Decoration Core-formed; applied rim-disk, handles, and unmarvered and marvered threads
View in Collection

Condition

Fully preserved, mended.

Description

Opaque white ground with translucent purple decoration. Broad, horizontal, translucent rim-disk; very short, cylindrical neck; cylindrical body, wider at the lower part, curving in toward a convex bottom. Below the shoulder, two opposing, small vertical ring handles with knobbed tails set at different heights on the body. Remains of a whitish core in the interior.

The body and the handles are made of opaque white glass. An unmarvered translucent purple thread is wound around the rim. A marvered translucent purple thread is spirally wound 28 times from neck to bottom and dragged alternately nine times upwards and nine times downwards, forming a feather pattern.

Comments and Comparanda

On core-formed alabastra, see comments on cat. 10. For the classification of this particular alabastron, see , class I:A, alabastron form I:1.

Provenance

By 1974–1988, Erwin Oppenländer, 1901–1988 (Waiblingen, Germany), by inheritance to his daughter, Ingrid Reisser, 1988; 1988–2004, Ingrid Reisser (Böblingen, Germany), sold to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 2004

Bibliography

, p. 66, no. 154.

pp. 28, 31, fig. 16.

Exhibitions

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

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