Glass alabastron (perfume bottle)

Unknown

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

Translucent cobalt blue, with handles in same color; trails in opaque yellow and opaque white. Uneven rim-disk, with tooling indents in upper surface; cylindrical neck; narrow rounded shoulder; elongated oval body with marked upward taper; convex, slightly pointed bottom; below shoulder, two vertical ring handles with knobbed tails applied over trail decoration; one with a longer tail than the other. A yellow trail attached unevenly at edge of rim-disk; a white trail applied as a thick blob at top of body and wound down in spiral ten times and overlaid with a yellow trail, then tooled into a close-set zigzag pattern around the central part of body, flanked at top and bottom by overlaid thicker yellow trails; below this, the white trail continuesfive and a half times horizontally around lower body, again overlaid with a yellow trail; one large round blue blob protrudes from side of bottom. Complete, except for part of trail around rim-dis and some surface cracks around bottom; dulling and pitting, and most of body covered with thin creamy iridescent weathering.

Artist

Unknown

Date

late 6th–5th century BCE

Medium

Glass

Culture

Greek, Eastern Mediterranean

Department

Greek and Roman Art

Credit line

Edward C. Moore Collection, Bequest of Edward C. Moore, 1891