Name/Title
AlabastronEntry/Object ID
11NE-Mi48-185Description
The rim is unmarvered and sloping obliquely to the narrow mouth. The rim is blue with a ring of white threaded glass at its center. The short cylindrical neck is threaded with white glass. The shoulders extend obliquely downwards where two knobbed handles sit, each upper-looped portion of the handles is missing. Decorated from the shoulder to the handles are six concentric white ribbed rings. The middle of the body is decorated with three concentric white threads, flanked by two larger yellow threads combed into a zig-zag pattern. The lower body is decorated, repeating the pattern of concentric white ribbed rings. The base is round. The vessel is intact, the lip may be a replacement; overall wear and encrustation may hide damage to the body.Context
In the ancient Mediterranean, these vessels held scented oils, typically olive-oil based, rather than the Roman alcohol-based perfumes. The vessel is named 'Alabastron' because they were originally made of alabaster before glassmakers adapted the shape to the glass industry.
Created by core-forming, this technique was first developed in the Near East but in the sixth century BCE, the industry moved west into to the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean vessels are classified into three successive groups, Group I, II, and III; this vessel falls under Group I. When the industry first was established in the west, Rhodes, Greece became a primary manufacturer. It's theorized that this technique was brought to the Mediterranean by Mesopotamian craftsmen who emigrated westwards in the seventh century BCE or was adopted by locals of Rhodes.Made/Created
Date made
600 BCE - 400 BCETime Period
ArchaicEthnography
Cultural Region
Area
Eastern MediterraneanDimensions
Dimension Description
OverallHeight
11.5 cmDiameter
3.7 cmResearch Notes
Research Type
ReferenceNotes
Hayes, John W. Roman and Pre-Roman Glass in the Royal Ontario Museum. Toronto: The Royal Ontario Museum, 1975. Note Page 8, Cat.1; Page 9, Cat.6.Research Type
ReferenceNotes
Grose, David Frederick. The Toledo Museum of Art Early Ancient Glass: Core Formed, Rod-Formed, and Cast Vessels and Objects from the Late Bronze Age to the Early Roman Empire, 1600 B.C. to A.D. 50. New York: Hudson Hill Press, 1989. Note Page 138, Cat. 79.Research Type
ReferenceNotes
"Alabastron (Container for Scented Oil)." Art Institute Chicago. https://www.artic.edu/artworks/67491/alabastron-container-for-scented-oil.