Glass amphoriskos (perfume bottle)

Unknown

1st century BCE · Glass · Greek and Roman Art

Translucent dark blue, appearing black; colorless handles and base-knob with purple streaks; trails in opaque yellow and pale grayish blue. Thick rim-disk, withuneven top surface and tooling indent underneath; concave, cylindrical neck; broad, sloping shoulder; piriform body; large spherical base-knob; two rod handles pressed onto shoulder, drawn up and slightly in, then looped in down, and attached to neck over trail decoration with long, downward trail. Yellow trail applied around lip of rim and then wound in a spiral around neck and shoulder to body, then down across upper part of body as a diagonal line; another trail in blue applied halfway down neck above yellow and wound down to body; both tooled from edge of shoulder to undercurve of body into a festoon pattern with twenty-four upward strokes, then continuing in plain spirals at bottom, ending around knob. Body intact, but most of one handle missing; patches of limy encrustation and iridescent weathering, with some pitting and dulling.

Artist

Unknown

Date

1st century BCE

Medium

Glass

Culture

Greek, Cypriot

Department

Greek and Roman Art

Credit line

The Cesnola Collection, Purchased by subscription, 1874–76