Glass perfume bottle
Unknown Artist
2nd–3rd century CE
Medium
Glass
Dimensions
H.: 5 3/8 in. (13.7 cm)
Classification
Glass
Culture & Period
Roman · Mid Imperial
Department
Greek and Roman Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Mary Anna Palmer Draper, 1915
Accession Number
15.43.189
Art Historical Context
This delicate glass perfume bottle, dating to the 2nd–3rd CE during Rome's Mid Imperial period, just 5 3/8 inches (13.7 cm) tall, making it a perfect portable luxury for everyday use. Crafted by an unknown Roman artisan, it exemplifies the everyday elegance of Roman glassware, now housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Greek Roman Art Department thanks to the 1915 bequest of Mary Anna Palmer Draper. ancient Rome, such vessels—often called unguentaria—held scented oils, perfumes, or cosmetics essential to personal grooming, beauty rituals, and even funerary practices. Their proliferation ...