Alabastron (small jar for perfumes or unguents), 2nd–1st century b.c.; Hellenistic
Cypriot
Glass
Technical Glossary
Cypriot
Glass
H. 5 3/8 in. (13.70 cm)
The Cesnola Collection, Purchased by subscription, 1874-76 (74.51.319)
The manufacture of glass on Cyprus dates from as early as the fourteenth and thirteenth centuries B.C. Variegated, or polychrome, glass was imported from Egypt and Phoenicia, although most known examples of this type of alabastron have been found on Cyprus, an indication that they may have been made there. These small glass vessels were exported throughout the Mediterranean. A similar piece was recovered from an ancient shipwreck dated to about 80 B.C., found at Antikythera, off the southern coast of the Peloponnesos.
