Glass amphoriskos (perfume bottle)

Unknown

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

Translucent blue, with handles in same color; trails in opaque yellow and opaque turquoise blue. Broad, uneven, slightly inward-sloping rim-disk, with off-center mouth; cylindrical neck, with slight downward taper; almost horizontal shoulder; top-shaped body; circular base-knob with slanting flat bottom; two vertical strap handles applied to shoulder, drawn up, and pressed onto neck and underside of rim-disk. A turquoise blue trail attached at edge of rim-disk; a thick yellow trail applied at base of neck, wound down in a spiral across shoulder and around top of body, then tooled into an uneven close-set zigzag pattern on upper part of body, where a turquoise blue trail is added, mingling with the yellow; below, a second, thicker turquoise blue trail also forms part of the zigzag pattern; a fine yellow trail wound horizontally two and a half times around middle of body; a turquoise blue trail applied carelessly around base-knob. Intact; bubbles and gritty white impurities; some deep pitting and iridescent weathering, and one side covered in brown limy 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