Skip to Main Content
57/631
Catalogue

46. Amphoriskos

Accession Number 2003.204
Dimensions H. 16.0, Diam. rim 2.8, max. Diam. 5.2 cm; Wt. 146.88 g
Date Second–mid-first centuries BCE
Production Area Eastern Mediterranean, possibly Syro-Palestinian region
Material Translucent dark blue and green; opaque white and red glass
Modeling Technique and Decoration Core-formed; applied handles, base-knob, and marvered threads
View in Collection

Condition

Intact. Pitting on the surface, with more on the ground areas.

Description

Transparent dark blue ground; transparent greenish, opaque turquoise, and yellow glass. Moderate splayed rim, tooled outward from the neck; tall, cylindrical neck, tapering upward; sloping obtuse-angled shoulder; tall conical body; convex pointed bottom. A drop-shaped base-knob of red glass is applied on the center of the bottom. Two large, opposing strap handles stretch vertically from shoulder to upper neck under the rim, bent and attached lower on the neck. One handle is greenish and the other bluish glass.

A red and a white thread—both marvered—are wound 32 times from rim to bottom in horizontal lines, which along the neck and at the central body are dragged upward to form a festoon pattern.

Comments and Comparanda

On core-formed amphoriskoi of this period, see comments on cat. 43. For the classification of this particular amphoriskos, see , class III:E, amphoriskos form III:2B: pp. 170–172, nos. 170–174.

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. 59, no. 130, illus.

Exhibitions

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

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