Ancient Eastern Mediterranean, Phoenicia, ca. 6th century BCE. A gorgeous and rare example of a core-formed glass amphoriskos from ancient Phoenicia, boasting a graceful silhouette and breathtaking decoration in rich hues of midnight blue, maroon, and white. Once used to store sweet and floral fragrances, this delicate vase presents a petite, discoid base and a piriform body with twin applied trail handles of deep blue that join the shoulder edge to the elongated neck just before it folds at the annular rim. The midnight blue body is wound with thread-like applied trails in shades of white and maroon, which are applied in a close-knit, feathered pattern around the center with horizontal trails below and above, extending to the top of the neck. What's more, note the wonderful traces of rainbow iridescence adorning the rim, shoulder, and body! Size: 2" Diameter x 5" H (5.1 cm x 12.7 cm); 6" H (15.2 cm) on included custom stand.

A vessel like this would have been made for the elites of ancient society. Its owner would have used a stopper to keep the contents inside, and a glass rod to dip into the vessel's perfumed oils and dab on the throat or wrists. The little handles made it possible to suspend the vessel, and we know from Athenian vase paintings that vessels like these could be worn off a belt at the waist or suspended from the wrist.

The Greeks created core-formed or sand core vessels by trailing threads of molten glass over a "core" of sand or clay to form the vessel. These threads were oftentimes feathered or dragged to create intriguing decorative patterns. The term amphoriskos literally means "little amphora" and is indeed a miniature amphora. This shape was quite popular as it was ideal to store precious oils, perfumes, or cosmetics.

According to the Corning Museum of Glass, core forming is "the technique of forming a vessel by winding or gathering molten glass around a core supported by a rod. After forming, the object is removed from the rod and annealed. After annealing, the core is removed by scraping." This process of glass making was begun in the late 16th century BCE by glassmakers of Mesopotamia, and then adopted by Egyptian glassmakers in the 15th century BCE. The technique almost came to an end in the so-called Dark Ages of Mediterranean civilization (1200 to 900 BCE); however, by the 9th century BCE a new generation of glassmakers took up the technique once again, and between the 6th and 4th century BCE core-forming spread throughout the Mediterranean.

Provenance: ex-Nancy and Dr. E.F. Simpson collection, Los Angeles, California, USA, acquired from 1970 to 2000

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#172233

Professionally repaired with break lines visible. Some light weathering and surface wear as expected with age. Otherwise, very nice with great traces of rainbow iridescence. Pontil mark on underside of base. A pontil scar or mark indicates that a vessel was free-blown, while the absence of such a mark suggests that the work was either mold-blown or that the mark was intentionally smoothed away or wore away over time.