Glass alabastron (perfume bottle)

late 6th–5th century BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 152
Translucent cobalt blue, with handles in opaque turquoise blue; trails in opaque yellow and opaque turquoise blue.
Broad horizontal rim-disk, with radiating tooling marks on upper surface; short cylindrical neck; rounded shoulder; elongated ovoid body, tapering upward to pointed bottom, with maximum diameter below the middle; convex bottom; two vertical ring handles with knobbed tails, applied over trail decoration.
Turquoise blue trail attached at edge of rim-disk; a yellow trail wound horizontally around top of body; a band comprising a yellow and a turquoise blue trail wound horizontally around body underneath handles, and a second band comprising two yellow trails flanking a turquoise blue trail wound horizontally around body at point of greatest diameter.
Intact, except for most of one handle; slight dulling and pitting, and faint iridescence.

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: 4 9/16 × 1 3/8 in. (11.5 × 3.6 cm)
    Diam. of rim: 1 7/16 in. (3.7 cm)
  • Classification: Glass
  • Credit Line: Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
  • Object Number: 17.194.756
  • Curatorial Department: Greek and Roman Art

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