6. Alabastron

Condition

Intact. Pitting and weathering on the inside have caused a brown discoloration. Pitting on the exterior forms an almost continuous layer of tiny pits. A horizontal crack is visible in the lower body area.

Description

Flaring rim, with one ground band clearly visible at the tip and another in the interior at the transition to the neck; short, wide, cylindrical neck; rudimentary sloping shoulder; elongated ovoid body; mildly convex bottom. On upper body, two opposing oval lugs (knobs) are barely visible, but each lug was first formed as a lozenge that was further cut off or smoothed into its final oval shape.

Comments and Comparanda

These cast alabastra are part of a Phoenician or Assyrian monochrome glass production that included bowls but also handled jars, jugs, and incense burners. They have been found in Assyria, Cyprus, Italy, and Spain in contexts dated to the late eighth through sixth centuries BCE (von Saldern 1970, pp. 225–228, nos. 48–54; Grose 1989, pp. 75–76). In general, it is believed that they were made by Phoenician craftsmen working in the Assyrian royal court. Particularly for the alabastra, it has been assumed that they were made in Phoenicia (Barag 1985, esp. pp. 52–57). Alabastra appear in two variants: a taller and slender one with height ranging between 18 and 23 cm (from Italy: von Saldern 1970, no. 48 = Goldstein 1979, p. 102, no. 200; von Saldern 1970, no. 51 = Barag 1985, pp. 67–68, no. 44; von Saldern 1970, no. 54a; and Cyprus: von Saldern 1970, no. 52 = Lightfoot 2017, p. 29, no. 3), and a squatter one, like this vessel, with a height between 10 and 14 cm (von Saldern 1970, nos. 50, 53, from Cyprus; Arveiller-Dulong and Nenna 2000, pp. 166–167, no. 195, from Italy). In addition, a similar squat alabastron has been unearthed in Rhodes in a burial dated to the last quarter of the fourth century BCE (Triantafyllidis 2000, pp. 154–155, no. 15).

Provenance

By 1968–1988, 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

von Saldern 1968, p. 12, no. 3.

Oppenheim et al. 1970, p. 226, no. 49, fig. 45.

von Saldern et al. 1974, p. 92, no. 241.

Wight 2011 pp. 18, 24, fig. 12.

Exhibitions

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

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

Meisterwerke der Glaskunst aus internationalem Privatbesitz (Düsseldorf, 1968–1969)