Alabastron (Container for Scented Oil)

Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium

late 6th-early 3rd century BCE

Eastern Mediterranean

The flaring rims of these alabastra functioned as applicators to spread the thick, scented oil over the skin. The vessels themselves fit comfortably in the user’s hand.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium

Culture: Ancient Eastern Mediterranean
Title: Alabastron (Container for Scented Oil)
Place: Eastern Mediterranean Region (Object made in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 550 BCE–350 BCE
Medium: Glass, core-formed technique
Dimensions: 9.5 × 2.8 × 3 cm (3 3/4 × 1 1/8 × 1 1/8 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Theodore W. and Frances S. Robinson
Reference Number: 1942.637
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/45707/manifest.json

Wanda Odell, “Ancient Glass: The Mr. and Mrs. Theodore W. Robinson Collection, Gallery 5A, The Art Institute of Chicago,” 1940, unpublished catalogue in curatorial object file, Art Institute of Chicago.
Karen B. Alexander, “From Plaster to Stone: Ancient Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,” in Karen Manchester, Recasting the Past: Collecting and Presenting Antiquities at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012), pp. 31-32, fig.16.

Art Institute of Chicago, Ancient Glass, Mr. and Mrs. Theodore W. Robinson Collection, June 28, 1940 –January 1, 1941.

Azeez Khayat (1875-1943), New York City; sold to Theodore W. and Frances S. Robinson, Chicago, 1928 [correspondence in curatorial file]; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1942.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.