Glass alabastron (perfume bottle)

mid-4th–early 3rd century BCE
Not on view
Translucent cobalt blue, with handles in same color; trails in opaque white (appearing very pale greyish blue) and opaque yellow.
Rim-disk; tall cylindrical neck; sloping shoulder; slightly bulbous cylindrical body; small convex bottom; on body, two large lug handles, applied over trail pattern, both with tooled upward indents.
A white trail applied to neck and wound spirally down across body, ending in circle around bottom; another yellow applied to rim-disk and trailed down across neck and upper body over white trail, tooled into a close-set zigzag pattern with shallow vertical ribbing around middle of body, then continuing in uneven horizontal lines and ending with a thick blob spiral around base of body.
Broken and repaired; most of rim-disk and part of neck missing, one large crack with losses around body, and one large hole around bottom; dulling, some pitting, and iridescent milky weathering.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Glass alabastron (perfume bottle)
  • Period: Late Classical or Hellenistic
  • Date: mid-4th–early 3rd century BCE
  • Culture: Greek, Eastern Mediterranean or Italian
  • Medium: Glass; core-formed, Group II
  • Dimensions: H.: 5 5/8 in. (14.3 cm)
  • Classification: Glass
  • Credit Line: Gift of Henry G. Marquand, 1881
  • Object Number: 81.10.302
  • Curatorial Department: Greek and Roman Art

More Artwork

Research Resources

The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.

To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.

Feedback

We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.