Glass aryballos (perfume bottle)

Unknown

late 6th–5th century BCE · Glass · Greek and Roman Art

Translucent cobalt blue, with handles in opaque yellow; trails in opaque yellow and opaque turquoise blue. Broad inward-sloping rim-disk; short cylindrical neck; right-angled shoulder; almost spherical body; convex, somewhat pointed bottom; two vertical ring handles with knobbed tails, applied over trail decoration, extend from shoulder to underside of rim-disk. Turquoise blue trail applied to outer edge of rim-disk; a yellow trail, unmarvered, applied on upper body and wound spirally, at first in horizontal lines, then tooled into a close-set zigzag pattern around central section of body, formed by shallow vertical tooling indents; three thick turquoise blue trails applied over yellow, forming a bold, even design; below this, a yellow trail and a turquoise blue trail wound horizontally once around body. Intact; white gritty impurities in body; slight dulling and pitting, and small patches of brown encrustation.

Artist

Unknown

Date

late 6th–5th century BCE

Medium

Glass

Culture

Greek, Eastern Mediterranean

Department

Greek and Roman Art

Credit line

Gift of Henry G. Marquand, 1881