Condition
Mended. Small cavities at the bottom filled. Neck and part of rim not preserved. A fine groove or crack is visible along the seams between the bands. The edge of each band is not perfectly straight, and each one is set at a slightly different angle. Along the white band a vertical crack is visible.
Description
The body at the top ends at a horizontal, flat edge that is ground on the exterior; everted conical body with straight walls tapering toward the rim; convex pointed bottom. The vessel is made from five parallel lengths of canes set horizontally on the body. The canes are set in the following order: dark blue, white, green, white, and blue.
Comments and Comparanda
This alabastron belongs to a very rare group of vessels with juxtaposed sections of glass of contrasting colors forming simple geometric designs. This technique was used for the production of bowls (Oliver, Andrew, Jr. 1967. “Late Hellenistic Glass in the Metropolitan Museum.” Journal of Glass Studies 9: 13–33., p. 1, figs. 6–9) as well as alabastra. The size and shape of these banded alabastra are almost identical to the gold-band alabastra of Oliver’s group A (Oliver, Andrew, Jr. 1967. “Late Hellenistic Glass in the Metropolitan Museum.” Journal of Glass Studies 9: 13–33., pp. 20–22). For comparanda, see from Soli, Cyprus, a vessel with blue, white, and blue bands: Myers, John L. 1899. A Catalogue of the Cyprus Museum, with a Chronicle of Excavations Undertaken since the British Occupation and Introductory Notes on Cypriote Archaeology. Oxford: Clarendon Press., p. 104, no. 2808; illustrated in Oliver, Andrew, Jr. 1967. “Late Hellenistic Glass in the Metropolitan Museum.” Journal of Glass Studies 9: 13–33., p. 19, fig. 10. At the British Museum is another example: a vessel with blue, white, and blue bands, and blue neck and rim: Tatton-Brown, Veronica, and Carol Andrews. 1991. “Before the Invention of Glassblowing.” In Five Thousand Years of Glass, ed. Hugh Tait, 21–61. London: British Museum Press., p. 57, fig. 66 right; illustrated in Oliver, Andrew, Jr. 1967. “Late Hellenistic Glass in the Metropolitan Museum.” Journal of Glass Studies 9: 13–33., pp. 19–20, fig. 11.
Provenance
Arnold Vogell, 1857–1911 (Karlsruhe, Germany); 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
Oliver, Andrew, Jr. 1969. “Additions and Corrections to ‘Late Hellenistic Glass in the Metropolitan Museum.’” Journal of Glass Studies 11: 17–18., p. 17.
Saldern von, Axel, Birgit Nolte, Peter La Baume, and Thea Elisabeth Haevernick. 1974. Gläser der Antike. Sammlung Erwin Oppenländer. Mainz: von Zabern., p. 102, no. 269.
Wight, Karol. 2011. Molten Color: Glassmaking in Antiquity. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum., pp. 34, 37, fig. 20.
Exhibitions
Molten Color: Glassmaking in Antiquity (Malibu, 2005–2006; 2007)
Gläser der Antike: Sammlung Erwin Oppenländer (Hamburg and Cologne, 1974–1975)