Glass amphoriskos (perfume bottle)
Translucent cobalt blue, with handles and base-knob in same color; trails in opaque yellow and opaque white.
Broad horizontal rim-disk with rounded edge; cylindrical neck, expanding slightly downwards; broad, sloping shoulder; elongated ovoid body, tapering sharply downwards; applied small circular base-knob with uneven bottom; two strap handles applied to shoulder and drawn up, turned in, and pressed on to neck.
One fine white trail attached at edge of rim-disk; a yellow trail applied to top of body and wound spirally, at first in a horizontal line, then tooled into a feather pattern, with alternating upward and downward strokes, the former making slightly raised knobs, the latter shallow indents around top of body; a second trail in white added around upper body, forming alternating bands with the yellow trail; both trails continuing to bottom; on base-knob, three stratified eyes, comprising an outer circle and central dot in translucent blue and broader inner circle in opaque white.
Broken and repaired around body, and one quarter of rim-disk missing; some dulling and patches of creamy iridescent weathering.
Broad horizontal rim-disk with rounded edge; cylindrical neck, expanding slightly downwards; broad, sloping shoulder; elongated ovoid body, tapering sharply downwards; applied small circular base-knob with uneven bottom; two strap handles applied to shoulder and drawn up, turned in, and pressed on to neck.
One fine white trail attached at edge of rim-disk; a yellow trail applied to top of body and wound spirally, at first in a horizontal line, then tooled into a feather pattern, with alternating upward and downward strokes, the former making slightly raised knobs, the latter shallow indents around top of body; a second trail in white added around upper body, forming alternating bands with the yellow trail; both trails continuing to bottom; on base-knob, three stratified eyes, comprising an outer circle and central dot in translucent blue and broader inner circle in opaque white.
Broken and repaired around body, and one quarter of rim-disk missing; some dulling and patches of creamy iridescent weathering.
Artwork Details
- Title: Glass amphoriskos (perfume bottle)
- Period: Late Classical or Hellenistic
- Date: 4th–3rd century BCE
- Culture: Greek, Eastern Mediterranean or Italian
- Medium: Glass; core-formed, Group II
- Dimensions: H.: 4 3/8 in. (11.1 cm)
- Classification: Glass
- Credit Line: Theodore M. Davis Collection, Bequest of Theodore M. Davis, 1915
- Object Number: 30.115.38
- Curatorial Department: Greek and Roman Art
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