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Catalogue

19. Alabastron

Accession Number 2003.184
Dimensions H. 9.9, Diam. rim 3.2, max. Diam. 2.5 cm; Wt. 43.59 g
Date Fifth century BCE
Production Area Eastern Mediterranean, possibly Rhodes
Material Brown, opaque yellow, and turquoise glass
Modeling Technique and Decoration Core-formed; applied rim-disk, handles, and unmarvered and marvered threads
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Condition

Fully preserved; small part of the rim filled; surface pitted, especially on rim, neck, and bottom; covered with brown incrustation.

Description

Turquoise ground; yellow and dark brown décor. Broad, horizontal rim-disk; cylindrical neck, tapering upward; cylindrical body; convex bottom. Two opposing ring handles with knobbed tails are placed over the decoration on the upper body near the shoulder. One of the handles is placed slightly lower than the other.

A marvered yellow thread, wound around the rim, spirals 22 times around the body to the center of the bottom. An unmarvered dark brown thread starts on the neck under the rim and spirals 22 times adjacent to the yellow thread to the center of the bottom. The decoration on the upper part of the body is dragged downward, forming a zigzag pattern. On the lower part of the body the threads are dragged up and down, forming a close-set zigzag pattern.

Comments and Comparanda

On core-formed alabastra, see comments on cat. 10. For the classification of this particular alabastron, see , class I:F, alabastron form I:3B: pp. 139–141, nos. 82–85. Almost identical with cat. 20.

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. 70, no. 174.

Exhibitions

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