Phoenician glass paste oinochoe, Circa 600-400 B.C.

A phoenician sand-core formed glass oinochoe with bands and zig zag pattern in black and white. Ovoid body with trefoil lip, splayed foot and arched handle.

This kind of pieces were made with a technique that already appears documented in the middle of the II Millennium, which allowed to obtain small containers with narrow mouths. It required a very specific treatment that forced the piece to be reheated several times, to later remove elements such as the strut or the sand that helped to give it the desired shape: the first step was to model a sand core and moisten it or wrap it in fabric and, from there, place the end of the strut in the crucible, thus achieving that the piece was surrounded by a layer of molten glass. The second step was to roll the piece on a flat surface to give it a shape, and then add different coloured glass threads to decorate the piece, rolling it again so that the latter would adhere to it. Then, the decoration was traced using a metal punch, until finally the additional parts were added, such as the handle, the foot or the mouth.

This type of container was used for perfumes and ointments, emphasizing its exquisiteness and the purchasing power of its users, since it was something that not all the population could access. They were widely distributed throughout the Mediterranean basin up to the Black Sea. Their use is not clearly known, although they were probably intended for funerary, symbolic use, to be introduced as an offering inside the tombs.