Ancient Roman Twin-Handled Aryballos

£ 1,400.00

An Ancient Roman glass aryballos featuring a large globular body, short and narrow neck and a wide flange rim. Two applied glass handles trail off just below the rim to the top of the body.

Date: Circa 1st-2nd Century AD
Condition: Very fine, intact. Covered with encrustations and features attractive multi-coloured iridescence.
Product Code: RGS-05
Category: Tag:

Glass was often the preferred material for storing expensive oils, perfumes, and medicines in antiquity because it was not porous. The small body and mouth allowed the user to carefully pour and control the amount of liquid dispensed. Aryballoi,sometimes called oil bottles,  were small vessels used for storing perfumes and scented oils, and were usually made of blown glass. More elaborately decorated and slightly larger examples of these oil bottles were called amphoriskoi and were produced by glassmakers in Syria and Palestine. Aryballoi of this type were also produced in Syria, and in the West.

To learn more about Roman glass, visit our relevant post: How It Was Made: Roman Glass.

Dimensions H 8 cm
Glass

Blown Glass

Region

Southern Europe

Reference: For a similar item, The Metropolitan Museum, accession number X.21.183.

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