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Catalogue

25. Alabastron

Accession Number 2004.7
Dimensions H. 10.0, Diam. rim 3.5, max. Diam. 3.1 cm; Wt. 52.08 g
Date Mid-fourth–early third centuries BCE
Production Area Eastern Mediterranean or Italy
Material Translucent dark blue and opaque yellow glass
Modeling Technique and Decoration Core-formed; applied rim, lugs, and unmarvered and marvered threads
View in Collection

Condition

Almost fully preserved; mended. One lug missing, and most of the decoration has fallen off.

Description

Translucent dark blue body; opaque yellow decoration. Broad, horizontal rim-disk; short, cylindrical neck wider toward the body; cylindrical body wider toward the flat bottom. A thick coil was attached to the shoulder and wound to form the neck. Another coil was attached to the upper side of the neck, wound twice and tooled to form the rim. Two opposing lugs were placed on the upper body near the shoulder; one is missing.

An unmarvered yellow thread is wound around the rim. A marvered yellow thread is wound spirally 28 times from neck to bottom and dragged upward at 16 points, forming a wide feather pattern. The decoration was probably originally composed of two threads, each wound 14 times; the second thread, likely in a different color, is not preserved at all and only the groove of its path remains visible.

Comments and Comparanda

On core-formed alabastra of this period, see comments on cat. 22. For the classification of this particular alabastron, see , class II:A, alabastron form II:2: pp. 153–154, no. 125.

Provenance

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

, p. 70, no. 177.

Exhibitions

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

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