Glass alabastron (perfume bottle)

Unknown

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

Opaque white, with handles in same color; trails in translucent purple. Broad, flat rim-disk with tooling marks on upper surface; short cylindrical neck; narrow rounded shoulder; straight-sided body with slight upward taper; convex bottom; below shoulder, two vertical ring handles with knobbed tails applied over trail decoration. One trail attached at edge of rim-disk; another applied on neck and wound down in spiral on upper body, then tooled into a zigzag pattern around middle of body; below this, a third fine trail wound twice horizontally around body. Intact, but internal cracks around lower body; pitting of surface bubbles, patches of limy encrustation, and faint iridescent weathering.

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