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; cylindrical neck; right-angled shoulder; almost spherical body; convex, somewhat pointed bottom; two vertical ring handles with knobbed tails extend from shoulder to neck. Turquoise blue trail applied to outer edge of rim-disk; a thick yellow trail 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; two turquoise blue trails applied, the upper one over yellow, also forming part of the zigzag pattern; below this, a yellow trail and a turquoise blue trail wound horizontally once around body. Intact; 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