Glass amphoriskos (perfume bottle)

3rd–2nd century BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 158
Translucent cobalt blue with same color handles and base-knob; trails in opaque yellow and opaque white.

Uneven horizontal rim-disk with rounded edge; tall cylindrical neck; sloping shoulder; small ovoid body; large coiled base-knob applied to pointed bottom; two vertical strap handles applied to top of body in pads, drawn up and slightly outward, then turned in and attached to top of neck and underside of rim-disk.

A yellow trail attached at edge of rim-disk and wound spirally over neck and shoulder, tooled into a narrow zigzag band with close-set vertical indents around top of body, then wound spirally down body in five turns, ending underneath base-knob; a white trail is added on neck and wound spirally, mingling with the yellow trail to lower part of body.

Intact; most of white trail completely weathered, leaving only a linear impression in body; dulling, pitting, and iridescent weathering.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Glass amphoriskos (perfume bottle)
  • Period: Hellenistic
  • Date: 3rd–2nd century BCE
  • Culture: Greek, Eastern Mediterranean
  • Medium: Glass; core-formed, Group II
  • Dimensions: H.: 4 in. (10.2 cm)
  • Classification: Glass
  • Credit Line: Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
  • Object Number: 17.194.598
  • Curatorial Department: Greek and Roman Art

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