Glass alabastron (perfume bottle)

Unknown

2nd–mid-1st century BCE · Glass · Greek and Roman Art

Translucent cobalt blue, with one handle in dark almost opaque brownish purple and the other in opaque yellow; trails in opaque yellow and opaque white. Horizontal rim-disk with rounded edge and radiating tooling marks on upper surface; concave cylindrical neck; straight-sided fusiform body with rounded profile expanding downward, then tapering in to pointed bottom with undercurve flattened on one side; two horizontal lug handles applied at top of body over trails, the yellow one higher and more pronounced; small irregular blob of opaque white applied over trails and projecting from side slightly above point of greatest diameter. White trail applied near bottom, wound upwards in a spiral to carination, tooled into a festoon pattern, with ten upward strokes, then wound again in a spiral up neck, ending with a backward loop below rim; yellow trail applied around rim-disk, then drawn down in a spiral around neck, tooled into festoon pattern, continuing in a spiral and ending around bottom in a thick swirl, covering the white trail. Intact, but crack on one side of neck and top of body; some pitting, slight dulling, but very little weathering.

Artist

Unknown

Date

2nd–mid-1st century BCE

Medium

Glass

Culture

Greek, Eastern Mediterranean

Department

Greek and Roman Art

Credit line

Gift of Edward Robinson, 1911