Alabastron (Container for Scented Oil)
200-150 BCE
- Medium
- Glass, core-formed technique
- Classification
- Vessel
- Dimensions
- 13.1 × 3.4 × 3.4 cm (5 1/8 × 1 3/8 × 1 3/8 in.)
- Culture
- Mediterranean Region
- 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 shape were made over the course of hundreds of years and from a variety of materials. The shape may have originated in Egypt and taken its name from the word alabaster, but it was readily replicated in other materials, including terracotta and glass. The broad rim functioned as an applicator for spreading its contents.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
