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16. Alabastron

Accession Number 2003.185
Dimensions H. 9.4, Diam. rim 3.0, max. Diam. 2.9 cm; Wt. 37.24 g
Date Late sixth–fifth centuries BCE
Production Area Eastern Mediterranean
Material Translucent dark blue and opaque turquoise glass, with bronze
Modeling Technique and Decoration Core-formed; applied rim-disk, handles, and unmarvered and marvered threads
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Condition

Intact. It is almost entirely weathered, now appearing white.

Description

Translucent dark blue body; opaque turquoise decoration. Horizontal rim-disk; short, cylindrical neck; rudimentary shoulder; cylindrical body, curving in toward the almost flat, slightly convex bottom. On the shoulder, two opposing, unevenly placed dark blue ring handles with knobbed tails.

One unmarvered turquoise thread is wound around the rim. A marvered turquoise thread is spirally wound 27 times from neck to bottom. The first six coils, covering the upper third of the body, are straight, and the 18 lower, which cover the lower two-thirds of the body, are dragged up and down, forming a zigzag pattern.

A bronze, M-shaped pin, missing one leg, is placed inside the vessel. This type of double pin appears in the seventh century BCE, probably originating from Macedonia but widespread throughout the Balkans, and continues to appear until the Hellenistic era (fourth–first centuries BCE) mildly altered. For parallels, see , pp. 92–94, 536, plate 44: nos. 296–297; , pp. 244–247, fig. 2.

Comments and Comparanda

On core-formed alabastra, see comments on cat. 10. For the classification of this particular alabastron, see , class I:B, alabastron form I:3A: pp. 136–137, no. 75.

Provenance

1908, Arnold Vogell, 1857–1911 (Karlsruhe, Germany) [sold, Griechische Altertümer südrussischen Fundorts aus dem Besitze des Herrn A. Vogell, Karlsruhe (Versteigerung), Max Cramer, Cassel, Germany, May 26–30, 1908, lot 1060]; 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

, lot 1060.

, p. 70, no. 175.

Exhibitions

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

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