Glass aryballos (perfume bottle)

Unknown

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

Translucent blue, with same color handles; trails in opaque yellow and opaque pale turquoise blue. Broad inward-sloping rim-disk; cylindrical neck; angular shoulder; almost spherical body; convex, slightly flattened bottom; two vertical ring handles with flattened tails, applied over trail decoration, extend from shoulder to neck. Yellow trail applied to outer edge of rim-disk; another yellow trail applied unevenly on shoulder and wound spirally down, at first in horizontal lines, then tooled into a close-set zigzag pattern around central section of body; turquoise blue trails applied over yellow, also forming part of the zigzag pattern; below this, a yellow trail wound horizontally twice around body. Intact; white gritty impurities in body; dulling and pitting, and patches of milky weathering and iridescence.

Artist

Unknown

Date

late 6th–5th century BCE

Medium

Glass

Culture

Greek, Eastern Mediterranean

Department

Greek and Roman Art

Credit line

Gift of Mrs. Elias Kempner, 1934