Condition
Intact; some pitting on the surface. Reddish remains of the core in the interior.
Description
Broad, flaring rim-disk; cylindrical neck; convex shoulder; top-shaped body; conical base-knob. Two vertical strap handles extend from the shoulder to the middle of the neck.
Opaque white ground; translucent purple decoration. An unmarvered thread is wound around the rim and base. A marvered thread is wound spirally from shoulders to mid-body, at first in two horizontal lines and from the greatest diameter downward dragged up and down, forming a zigzag pattern. Another marvered thread is wound twice below the zigzags.
Comments and Comparanda
The amphoriskos (small amphora) was one of the ceramic vessel forms that was rendered in glass by the core-forming technique from the sixth century BCE onward, when this technique, known in Mesopotamia and Egypt since the middle of the second millennium BCE, was introduced in the Aegean world. In addition to amphoriskoi, alabastra, aryballoi, and oinochoiskai (juglets) were imitated in core-formed glass. It is believed that they functioned as unguentaria, intended for aromatic and cosmetic substances (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.; McClellan, Murray. 1984. “Core-Formed Glass from Dated Contexts.” PhD diss., University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.; 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., pp. 109–125; Stern, Eva Marianne, and Birgit Schlick–Nolte. 1994. Early Glass of the Ancient World, 1600 B.C.–A.D. 50: Ernesto Wolf Collection. Ostfildern: Gerd Hatje., pp. 37–44).
This object belongs to the earliest group of Aegean core-formed vessels, dating from the middle of the sixth century to the end of the fifth century BCE (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., pp. 58–99; 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., pp. 110–115), which were made either of blue glass and decorated with white, yellow, and turquoise threads or of milky white glass decorated with purple threads. Vessels of this group have been found in great numbers in Rhodes, Macedonia, the Aegean islands, and Italy. For the classification of this particular amphoriskos, 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 I:A, amphoriskos form I:2; for the class, see p. 143, nos. 94–95; for the form, see p. 145, no. 101.
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. 66, no. 153; p. 56, plate no. 153.
Exhibitions
Molten Color: Glassmaking in Antiquity (Malibu, 2005–2006; 2007; 2009–2010)
Gläser der Antike: Sammlung Erwin Oppenländer (Hamburg and Cologne, 1974–1975)