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Catalogue

21. Alabastron

Accession Number 2003.186
Dimensions H. 10.4, Diam. rim 3.2, Diam. body 2.6 cm; Wt. 44.25 g
Date Fifth century BCE
Production Area Eastern Mediterranean, possibly Rhodes
Material Translucent light green/gray and opaque turquoise and yellow glass
Modeling Technique and Decoration Core-formed; applied rim-disk, handles, and unmarvered and marvered threads
View in Collection

Condition

Intact. Some weathering and iridescence on the neck and handles.

Description

Translucent light green/gray body; opaque turquoise and yellow decoration. Horizontal rim-disk; short, cylindrical neck; rudimentary shoulder; cylindrical body, curving in toward the flat bottom. Two opposing ring handles with knobbed tails, placed at slightly different heights.

An unmarvered yellow thread is wound around the rim. A thin turquoise and wide yellow thread—both marvered—are spirally wound in 25 almost horizontal rows. The first seven, covering the upper third of the body, are straight, and the lower 18, covering the lower two-thirds of the body, are dragged 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:F, alabastron form I:3A: p. 141, no. 88.

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. 178; p. 71, plate no. 178.

Exhibitions

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

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