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Glass alabastron (perfume bottle)

late 6th–5th century BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 171
Translucent blue, with handles in opaque yellow; trails in opaque yellow.
Broad flat rim-disk with rough edge to mouth; very short concave cylindrical neck; narrow uneven shoulder; straight-sided body with upward taper; convex bottom, slightly flattened to one side; below shoulder, two vertical ring handles with knobbed tails applied over trail decoration; one slightly higher than the other.
One trail attached at edge of rim-disk; another applied at top of body and wound down in spiral six times, then tooled into a close-set zigzag pattern around the central part of body, formed by shallow vertical tooling indents; below this, trail wound twice horizontally around lower body.
Intact, except for knob on tail of one handle; slight dulling and pitting, and most of body, especially the trails, covered with creamy iridescent weathering.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Glass alabastron (perfume bottle)
  • Period: Classical
  • Date: late 6th–5th century BCE
  • Culture: Greek, Eastern Mediterranean
  • Medium: Glass; core-formed, Group I
  • Dimensions: H.: 4 3/8 in. (11.1 cm)
  • Classification: Glass
  • Credit Line: Gift of Henry G. Marquand, 1881
  • Object Number: 81.10.312
  • Curatorial Department: Greek and Roman Art

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