Perfume Bottle (Alabastron)

Object Name: 
Perfume Bottle (Alabastron)

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Object Name: 
Perfume Bottle (Alabastron)
Place Made: 
probably Assyria
Accession Number: 
62.1.22
Dimensions: 
Overall H: 22.7 cm, Diam (max): 4 cm
Location: 
On Display
Date: 
699-500 BCE
Credit Line: 
The Corning Museum of Glass
Primary Description: 
Perfume Bottle (Alabastron). Translucent light aquamarine glass, some large bubbles, heavily shattered, dull areas on surface, some accretions on surface; cast and lathe-cut, also wheel-cut then polished. Flared rim, upper surface ground flat, lip beveled, tapers sharply into short cylindrical neck, bends out at shoulder into long swelling cylindrical form with rounded bottom; two stylized "duck's head" handles, ca. 3 cm long, cut 2 cm below shoulder.

More Info

Department: 
Ancient
Provenance: 
Sangiorgi, Giorgio (Italian, 1886-1965), Source
1962-07-17
Category: 
Origins of Glassmaking
Color: 
aquamarine
Technique: 
cutting
casting
polishing
Material: 
glass

Exhibitions (1)

A Wonder to Behold: The Power of Craftsmanship and the Creation of Babylon’s Ishtar Gate
Venue(s)
Institute for the Study of the Ancient World 2019-11-06 through 2020-05-24
"A Wonder to Behold: Craftsmanship and the Creation of the Ishtar Gate at Babylon" will examine the skilled and ritually transformative power of craftsman in the ancient Near East through the lens of the Ishtar Gate. Built by Nebuchadnezzar II (ruled 604 -- 562 B.C.) as a monumental entry way into the capital city of Babylon, the Ishtar Gate is composed of individually molded, colorful glazed ceramic bricks. Technologies of glaze and glass were intricately linked at this time, with the materials and their craftsman consider the most magical or alchemical for their ability to transform mundane raw materials of clay and sand into luminous objects. Along with surviving pieces of the Ishtar Gate and archival materials from its excavation, the exhibition will feature inscribed, stamped, and glazed bricks, clay and glass figurines, ancient glass objects, materials in their raw forms, and examples of modern craft traditions of mudbrick and glass.

Publications (6)

Glass and Glass Production in the Near East During the Iron Age: Evidence from Objects, Texts and Chemical Analysis (2019) illustrated, pp. 221, 240 (AM8);
Zhongguo gu dai bo li qi min = Chinese ancient glass (2018) illustrated, p. 51 (fig. 2-10);
Rodiakē yalourgia I : ta en thermō diamorphōmena diaphanē aggeia polyteleias : oi klasikoí kai oi prṓimoi ellēnistikoí chrónoi / Paulos Triantaphyllidēs (2000) illustrated, p. 172, table III.4 (no. 4); BIB# 66846
Pre-Roman and Early Roman Glass in The Corning Museum of Glass (1979) illustrated, p. 102, #200 pls. 12, 37; BIB# 29547
Glass and Glassmaking in Ancient Mesopotamia (1970) p. 226, fig. 44, #48; BIB# 27367
Glass Finds at Gordion (1959) illustrated, p. 30, fig. 7, #9; BIB# AI56035