Condition
The vessel is almost completely iridescent, with a small area of the original blue color still visible. There are some minor abrasions, such as a small hole near the bottom, and some nicks and scratches.
Description
Translucent dark blue ground; opaque yellow, now appearing white, decoration. Broad, horizontal rim-disk; biconical body; convex bottom. Two lugs near the neck.
A yellow, now appearing white, thread is wound 33 times around the body from the bottom to the rim. The thread is combed at the upper part of the body from under the rim to the transition to the lower conical part, forming a feathered pattern.
Comments and Comparanda
On core-formed alabastra of this period, see comments on cat. 29. For the classification of this particular alabastron, see Grose, David Frederick. 1989. Early Ancient Glass: Core-Formed, Rod-Formed, and Cast Vessels and Objects from the Late Bronze Age to the Early Roman Empire, 1600 B.C. to A.D. 50. New York: Hudson Hills Press., class III:E, alabastron form III:5: pp. 168–169, nos. 166–167; Harden, Donald B. 1981. Catalogue of Greek and Roman Glass in the British Museum, vol. 1: Core- and Rod-Formed Vessels and Pendants and Mycenean Cast Objects. London: British Museum., form 18, pp. 122–123.
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
Saldern von, Axel, Birgit Nolte, Peter La Baume, and Thea Elisabeth Haevernick. 1974. Gläser der Antike. Sammlung Erwin Oppenländer. Mainz: von Zabern., p. 74, no. 192.
Exhibitions
Gläser der Antike: Sammlung Erwin Oppenländer (Hamburg and Cologne, 1974–1975)