Semitic Museum No. 1995.10.1064
Glass Unguentarium
Date: Roman

Form: Candlestick unguentarium with a globular (gourd-like) body and flattened bottom, long cylindrical neck tapering to a slightly flared mouth and rolled-in rim.

Fabric: Light grey-green, i.e. the natural color of glass.

Decoration: None.

Technical/Manufacturing: Free-blown glass. Cut-off mark visible on the rolled-in rim; neck is off-center tothe body, no puntil or clamp marks visible.

Remarks: Provenance unknown. Rim narrower than the other glass unguentaria in the collection. This type of vessel is also described as a flask and sometimes a bottle. An oil stain is visible inside the body and runs the full length of the neck, which shows that the vessel lay on its side in the tomb. Dates probably to the 2nd century AD.

• Publication: Webster 1968:147, Stanford No. T. 148, and SCE IV:3 reference below.
• Comparanda SM: 1995.10.1066 for similar rim; 1063, 1070 for ancient oil stains.
• Comparanda Elsewhere: SCE IV:3, Fig. 48:6, Vessberg's Type A.I.alpha1 per Webster but the present author feels that Fig. 60:2 is a better parallel. Nielsen 1992:89, unguentaria, nos.77-84 in the Cypriote Collection at the NY Carlsberg Glyptotek. Murray, Walters, Smith 1900: 69, Figs. 100, 102, Tomb 77 at Kourion Ayios Ermoyenis where..."was found a glass bottle of the common type still containing the balm that had been originally placed in it".