Glass alabastron (perfume bottle)

Unknown

5th century BCE · Glass · Greek and Roman Art

Translucent turquoise green, with handles in same color; trails in opaque yellow and opaque turquoise blue. Broad horizontal rim-disk; cylindrical neck; narrow rounded shoulder; straight-sided cylindrical body, curving in at bottom; two large vertical ring handles with knobbed tails, applied over trail decoration. Yellow and urquoise trails, mixed together, attached at edge of rim-disk; other yellow and turquoise trails applied to top of body under neck and rim-disk; both wound in a spiral around body, at first as horizontal lines, then tooled into a close-set zigzag pattern with alternate upward and downward strokes. Broken around lower body, bottom missing, and parts of trails completely weathered, leaving only indentation in body; dulling, pitting, and whitish weathering with slight iridescence.

Artist

Unknown

Date

5th century BCE

Medium

Glass

Culture

Greek, Eastern Mediterranean

Department

Greek and Roman Art

Credit line

Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917