Description:
An amphoriskos (perfume bottle) with an ovoid body and a base knob, from the Eastern Mediterranean world, possibly Rhodes or Cyprus and dating to circa the 5th century B.C.
The vessel was formed around a core, combining slightly translucent dark blue glass, and opaque yellow and turquoise trailing, worked into a zigzag pattern. Three horizontal yellow lines were applied on the shoulder and two on the lower part of the glass. The short, outsplayed rim-disk, forming a funnel-shaped mouth, was also decorated with thick, opaque yellow trail. Two small opaque blue, ear-shaped vertical ring handles are applied on either side to the top of the body and the short cylindrical neck
Literature and parallels:
Christopher S. Lightfoot, The Cesnola Collection of Cypriot Art: Ancient Glass (New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2017), p. 16, fig. 4; p. 34, no 4.
Published:
P.L.W. Arts, A Collection of Ancient Glass, 500 BC - 500 AD (Lochem, 2000), no. 2.
Dating:
Circa 5th century B.C.
Size:
Height 7 cm.
Provenance:
Dutch private collection P.L.W. Arts; thereafter private collection A.v.D.; thereafter Kunsthandel Mieke Zilverberg, Amsterdam.
Condition:
Intact, with some of the usual pinprick bubbles. Comes with a small stand.
Price:
€ 7,900
Stock number:
C1286