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Glass alabastron (perfume bottle)

2nd–1st century BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 162
Translucent deep cobalt blue, with handles in same color; trail in opaque yellow.
Broad, uneven, almost horizontal rim-disk, with rounded edge and wide mouth; cylindrical neck, flaring upwards; small, sloping shoulder; cylindrical body, with slightly convex sides; rounded bottom with central prokecting knob; two horizontal lug handles applied over trail at top of body.
Yellow trail attached to rim-disk and wound round edge and down neck in a spiral, tooled into a feather pattern on body in six panels of alternating upward and downward strokes with slightly raised loops around shoulder, ending around bottom.
Broken and repaired with some chips and small holes in body; slight dulling and pitting, with iridescent weathering.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Glass alabastron (perfume bottle)
  • Period: Hellenistic
  • Date: 2nd–1st century BCE
  • Culture: Greek, Eastern Mediterranean
  • Medium: Glass; core-formed, Group III
  • Dimensions: H.: 5 in. (12.7 cm)
  • Classification: Glass
  • Credit Line: Gift of Henry G. Marquand, 1881
  • Object Number: 81.10.310
  • Curatorial Department: Greek and Roman Art

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