35. Amphoriskos

Condition

Almost fully preserved; small part of the rim is filled. Almost the entire vessel is covered with whitish weathering. Reddish remains of the core in the interior.

Description

Translucent dark blue body; opaque yellow and turquoise decoration. Broad, inward-sloping rim-disk; relatively tall, cylindrical neck; almost right-angled shoulder; top-shaped body; convex bottom; circular base-knob with a rounded edge. Two dark blue vertical strap handles extend from the shoulders to the upper part of the neck under the rim.

An unmarvered opaque yellow thread is wound around the rim. A wide marvered yellow thread starts on the shoulder and spirals four times around the shoulders and the upper body, where an opaque whitish thread (its white color, likely the result of weathering, was originally turquoise) is wound twice, and they are both dragged up and down, forming a zigzag pattern. Below this, a marvered yellow thread is wound horizontally twice around the body.

A bronze chain ending with a large ring is attached to one of the handles.

Comments and Comparanda

On core-formed amphoriskoi of this period, see comments on cat. 34. For the classification of this particular amphoriskos, see Grose 1989, class I:B, amphoriskos form I:2: p. 144, no. 97.

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

von Saldern et al. 1974, p. 81, no. 221; p. 61, plate no. 221.

Wight 2011 pp. 103, 112, fig. 80.

Exhibitions

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

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