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Catalogue

55. Aryballos

Accession Number 2004.4
Dimensions H. 7.2, Diam. rim 2.8, max. Diam. 6.5 cm; Wt. 146.88 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, unmarvered and marvered threads, and dots
View in Collection

Condition

Intact.

Description

Translucent dark blue ground; yellow and turquoise decoration. Broad, inward-sloping turquoise rim-disk; cylindrical neck; convex shoulder; ovoid body; convex pointed bottom. Two “dolphin” ring handles with knobbed tails, one dark blue and one yellow, extend from the middle of the neck to the shoulder.

An unmarvered dark blue thread is wound around the rim. A marvered yellow thread is wound five times around the body as horizontal lines and at the largest diameter a turquoise thread is added, spiraling three times with the yellow thread, dragged to form a zigzag and feathered pattern. Below are two yellow threads flanking a turquoise thread. At the center of the bottom is a wider turquoise dot with a smaller yellow dot at the center.

Comments and Comparanda

See comments on cat. 53. For the classification of this particular aryballos, see , class I:B, aryballos form I:1: pp. 151–152, no. 120.

Provenance

By 1974–1988, Erwin Oppenländer, 1901–1988 (Waiblingen, Germany), by inheritance to his daughter, Ingrid Reisser, 1988; 1988–2004, Ingrid Reisser (Böblingen, Germany), sold to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 2004

Bibliography

, p. 64, no. 144.

Exhibitions

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

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