Glass alabastron (perfume bottle)

Unknown

5th century BCE · Glass · Greek and Roman Art

Translucent pale blue green, with handles in same color; trails in opaque yellow and opaque turquoise blue. Broad horizontal rim-disk; short cylindrical neck; narrow rounded shoulder; straight-sided cylindrical body with upward taper; convex bottom; two large vertical ring handles with knobbed tails, applied over trail decoration. Yellow trail attached at edge of rim-disk; another yellow trail overlaid with turquoise blue applied under rim-disk, wound down in a spiral, then both tooled into an uneven, close-set zigzag pattern on lower two-thirds of body to bottom, where the trails end in irregular swirls. Complete, except for most of one handle; dulling, pitting, and iridescent creamy weathering.

Artist

Unknown

Date

5th century BCE

Medium

Glass

Culture

Greek, Eastern Mediterranean

Department

Greek and Roman Art

Credit line

Theodore M. Davis Collection, Bequest of Theodore M. Davis, 1915