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Catalogue

39. Amphoriskos

Accession Number 2003.173
Dimensions H. 7.1, Diam. rim 2.4, max. Diam. 4.5 cm; Wt. 44.01 g
Date Late sixth–fifth centuries BCE
Production Area Eastern Mediterranean, possibly Rhodes
Material Translucent dark blue and opaque yellow and turquoise glass
Modeling Technique and Decoration Core-formed; applied rim, handles, and unmarvered and marvered threads
View in Collection

Condition

Intact, with mild pitting. 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; obtuse-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.

An opaque yellow thread and a turquoise thread—both unmarvered—are wound around the rim. A wide marvered yellow thread starts on the neck as a large flake and spirals eight times around the shoulders and the upper body, where a marvered opaque turquoise thread is wound once 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.

Comments and Comparanda

On core-formed amphoriskoi of this period, see comments on cat. 34. For the classification of this particular amphoriskos, see , 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

, p. 62, no. 142.

Exhibitions

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

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