Glass alabastron (perfume bottle)

Period:
Hellenistic
Date:
2nd–mid-1st century B.C.
Culture:
Greek, Eastern Mediterranean
Medium:
Glass; core-formed, Group III
Dimensions:
H.: 4 1/2 in. (11.5 cm)
Classification:
Glass
Credit Line:
Bequest of Walter C. Baker, 1971
Accession Number:
1972.118.183
  • Description

    Translucent blue, with handles in same color; trail in opaque white.
    Rim-disk with thick rounded edge, uneven and sloping inward, with projecting jagged inner edge to neck; slender cylindrical neck, slanting to one side; straight-sided fusiform body expanding downward, then tapering in to pointed bottom; two large horizontal lug handles applied over trail at top of body.
    Trail applied unevenly around rim, then drawn down in a spiral around neck, across body, and trailed off around bottom, with plain spiral at top and bottom, but tooled into a close-set feather pattern around sides, arranged in five panels of alternating upward and downward strokes.
    Intact, but with slight surface chipping; some dulling with creamy weathering and iridescence.

  • See also
    What
    Where
    When
    In the Museum
    Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
    MetPublications
130015996

Close