Glass alabastron (perfume bottle)

Unknown

2nd–1st century BCE · Glass · Greek and Roman Art

Translucent light blue with greenish tinge; opaque white trails; handles of indeterminate color (blue?). Uneven, coiled rim-disk with rounded outer lip; fusiform body, with uneven, misshapen sides, expanding downward, then tapering in to pointed bottom; two uneven lug handles applied at top of body over trail with horizontal tooling indents above and below. Trail applied unevenly around rim and trailed off below; another trail attached near bottom, drawn up in a spiral to point of carination, tooled into an irregular feather pattern around side with six upward and five downward strokes, and wound round again in spiral ending below rim. Intact; many bubbles; dulling, pitting, and faint iridescence.

Artist

Unknown

Date

2nd–1st century BCE

Medium

Glass

Culture

Greek, Eastern Mediterranean

Department

Greek and Roman Art

Credit line

The Cesnola Collection, Purchased by subscription, 1874–76