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

Overview

References

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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