Glass amphoriskos (perfume bottle)

Unknown

4th century BCE · Glass · Greek and Roman Art

Translucent cobalt blue, with handle and base-knob in same color; trail in uncertain color. Everted horizontal rim with rounded outer lip; cylindrical neck; sloping shoulder; ovoid body, tapering downwards; applied base-knob; strap handle applied in a large pad to shoulder, drawn up and slightly outward, then curving in and pressed on to neck under rim. Trail applied on neck below rim and wound down in spiral, drawn across shoulder, and then tooled into a close-set zigzag pattern around upper half of body, formed by uneven vertical tooling indents, and with an irregular raised line running aslant across shoulder. Broken and repaired, with several holes in body and second handle completely missing; dulling, pitting, and iridescence, with large areas of thick, milky weathering.

Artist

Unknown

Date

4th century BCE

Medium

Glass

Culture

Greek, Eastern Mediterranean or Italian

Department

Greek and Roman Art

Credit line

Gift of Henry G. Marquand, 1881