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Aryballos (Container for Oil) with Chain
Ancient Roman (now Israel)
late 1st-2nd century
- Medium
- Glass, blown technique, and bronze
- Classification
- Vessel
- Dimensions
- 7.4 × 7.5 × 7.5 cm (2 7/8 × 3 × 3 in.)
- Culture
- Syria
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium
- Credit line
- Gift of Theodore W. and Frances S. Robinson
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
Vessels of this sort were used to hold cosmetic oil and were standard accessories for Roman bathing. The bronze chains looped around the user's wrist. In the absence of soap, oil was rubbed onto the skin, and then scraped off with a strigil, an instrument with a curved, blunt blade.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
