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Catalogue

26. Alabastron

Accession Number 2004.8
Dimensions H. 5.7, Diam. rim 2.2, max. Diam. 1.9 cm; Wt. 16.68 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-disk, handles, and unmarvered and marvered threads
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Condition

Fully preserved. Chips are missing from the rim. Weathering has caused some iridescence. In the interior, red, grainy core remains are visible.

Description

Translucent dark blue body; opaque yellow decoration. Broad, horizontal rim-disk; short conical neck, tapering downward; narrow but horizontal shoulder; cylindrical body, wider toward the bottom, curves in, forming a convex bottom. Below the shoulder there are two opposingly placed, small ring handles. In addition, one of the lugs forms a horizontal loop and the other a vertical one.

Decorated with yellow threads, with an unmarvered one wound around the rim. A marvered yellow thread is wound spirally 13 times from shoulder to bottom. It begins as a wavy horizontal line and then it is dragged upward at seven points, forming a festoon pattern on the body to the convex lower part, where it is again left in the form of horizontal lines.

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:D, alabastron form II:8: pp. 158–159, no. 140.

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. 112, no. 300.

Exhibitions

Molten Color: Glassmaking in Antiquity (Malibu, 2005–2007)

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