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Glass gold-band mosaic alabastron (perfume bottle)

1st century BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 163
Neck and rim disk: translucent turquoise green. Body: colorless, translucent turquoise green, translucent cobalt blue, opaque white, and gold leaf.
Rim disk and neck: flat, broad, horizontal rim, with rounded edge; cylindrical neck with uneven surface and vertical ribbing; projecting solid flange with downward taper that fits tightly into mouth of body and flat horizontal bottom edge; body: plain vertical rim, slightly beveled and tapering upward; tall, slender body, expanding downwards, then curving in to pointed bottom.
On exterior of body, gold-band mosaic pattern formed from parallel wavy lengths of four canes set vertically: the first in turquoise green; the second in gold leaf sandwiched between two layers of colorless glass; the third in cobalt blue with a thin white stripe; and the fourth again in gold leaf sandwiched between two layers of colorless glass; each cane repeated three times over the body.
Neck and rim disk: intact; a few pinprick bubbles, dulling, patches of whitish iridescent weathering, and encrustation with neck; body: broken and repaired with one small chip in rim and some small holes in cracks; slight dulling and faint whitish weathering.

This cast and carved vessel belongs to a distinctive group of Late Hellenistic containers that comprised a body made of lengths of colored glass and a detachable neck and rim of translucent monochrome glass. The colored bands on the body include ones made of gold leaf sandwiched between layers of colorless glass.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Glass gold-band mosaic alabastron (perfume bottle)
  • Period: Late Hellenistic
  • Date: 1st century BCE
  • Culture: Greek
  • Medium: Glass and gold leaf; cast, probably around a rod
  • Dimensions: 7 1/8 × 7/8 in. (18.1 × 2.2 cm)
    Stopper: 1 7/16 × 9/16 in. (3.6 × 1.5 cm)
    Diam. of rim: 1 3/16 in. (3 cm)
    Length (length without stopper): 5 7/8 in. (15 cm)
  • Classification: Glass
  • Credit Line: Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
  • Object Number: 17.194.286a, b
  • Curatorial Department: Greek and Roman Art

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