Skip to Main Content
25/631
of
Catalogue

14. Alabastron

Accession Number 2003.190
Dimensions H. 12.5, Diam. rim 3.0, max. Diam. 3.2 cm; Wt. 60.16 g
Date Late sixth–fifth centuries BCE
Production Area Eastern Mediterranean, possibly Rhodes
Material Translucent dark blue and opaque white and yellow glass, with bronze
Modeling Technique and Decoration Core-formed; applied rim-disk, handles, and unmarvered and marvered threads
View in Collection

Condition

Mended; partly covered with iridescence and whitish weathering.

Description

Translucent dark blue body; opaque white and yellow decoration. Horizontal rim-disk; fusiform body; flat bottom. Two blue, small vertical ring handles with knobbed tails, opposite each other, are placed over the decoration on the upper body. A bronze chain is attached to the handles.

An unmarvered white thread lines the rim. A wide marvered yellow thread is wound twice around the middle of the body. A fine white thread is wound from top to bottom, forming almost horizontal rows: at the upper part of the body, it is spirally wound nine times; at the middle, it is spirally wound nine times, overlapping with and going between the yellow bands; and at the lower part, seven more times. The decoration on the middle of the body is dragged twenty-two times up and down, forming a zigzag pattern.

Comments and Comparanda

On core-formed alabastra, see comments on cat. 10. For the classification of this particular alabastron, see , class I:G, alabastron form I:5: pp. 137–138, nos. 78–79.

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

, p. 73, no. 186; p. 57, plate no. 186.

Exhibitions

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

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