Glass amphoriskos (perfume bottle)

late 6th–5th century BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 157
Translucent blue, with handles in same color; trails in opaque yellow and opaque turquoise blue.
Broad, slightly inward-sloping rim-disk; cylindrical neck with concave sides; broad sloping shoulder; top-shaped body; small circular base-knob with flat bottom; two vertical strap handles applied to shoulder, drawn up, and pressed onto neck and underside of disk-rim.
A yellow trail attached at edge of rim-disk; another thick yellow trail applied at base of neck, wound down in a spiral across shoulder and around top of body, then tooled into an uneven close-set zigzag pattern on upper half of body, where a turquoise blue trail is added, mingling with the yellow; below, a fine yellow trail wound horizontally twice around middle of body.
Complete, except for large chip in rim-disk; slight dulling and pitting, and small patches of creamy brown iridescent weathering.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Glass amphoriskos (perfume bottle)
  • Period: Classical
  • Date: late 6th–5th century BCE
  • Culture: Greek, Eastern Mediterranean
  • Medium: Glass; core-formed, Group I
  • Dimensions: H. 3 1/8 in. (8 cm)
  • Classification: Glass
  • Credit Line: Gift of Elias Kempner, 1934
  • Object Number: 34.132.21
  • Curatorial Department: Greek and Roman Art

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