#alabastron
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chapps.bsky.social
Honestly, I can never get enough of ancient glass. The vibrant colors, clever forms, and even the use of gold. This alabastron (perfume or scented oil flask) has swirls of gold between bands of colored glass. 1/ 🏺

📸 me
A gold band alabastron, with irregular bands of colored glass (cobalt blue, green, white, and black) snaking across the surface of this elegant vessel. The opulent gold bands are in fact gold leaf sandwiched between layers of colorless glass. Gold band glass was a luxury ware and this alabastron, or perfume flask, would have been owned by a prosperous Roman woman. The term alabastron comes from alabaster, the material from which containers of this shape, used for perfume and scented oil, were originally made in Egypt. In the Roman Empire, the use of gold band glass was initially limited to the creation of alabastra, but the medium was gradually adapted for the creation of a variety of other shapes.
July 20, 2025 at 9:29 PM
janesancinito.bsky.social
Adding another owl from Smyrna!
Alabastron case showing a crude black figure owl
August 4, 2025 at 7:02 PM
evanka.eurosky.social
#AlphabetChallenge
#WeekVforVowels
Alabastron
Alabastron, ancient multicolored glass perfume? Bottles, from Archeological Museum of Ferrara
November 25, 2025 at 4:55 PM
carausius286.bsky.social
This Etruscan alabastron (or perfume vase) is made from terracotta in the shape of a (somewhat languid) rabbit. If you’ve ever had a rabbit as a pet, the flattened ears and rear legs stretched out behind (here sadly broken) indicate a rabbit at ease & feeling safe.

🕰️650-500 BC
🏛️📷 The Met, NY
September 27, 2026 at 6:17 AM
saveancientstudies.bsky.social
✨ The Greeks also used these types of vials for oil, as well as perfume!

➡️ For more on alabastron glass, see here: learn.ncartmuseum.org/artwork/alab... & www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...
Alabastron – NCMALearn
learn.ncartmuseum.org
September 30, 2026 at 4:51 AM
saveancientstudies.bsky.social
✨ Greek artists were influenced to make alabastron glasses from a variety of materials like faience! Faience is a quartz-like material, which gives off a glass-like shine when meticulously processed. Greek alabastron bottles were shaped into vials or like an amphora.
September 30, 2026 at 4:51 AM
evanhagan.bsky.social
Where is my mind?, Wheel-thrown, Large Alabastron, 26in Tall. White Stoneware, Cone-6 #pottery #ceramics
January 27, 2025 at 1:46 PM
chapps.bsky.social
As today's another sick day for me, I need something bright and beautiful to cheer me up. Like this #Greek cobalt blue glass alabastron (perfume bottle) with a multicolored feather pattern. Cute little nubbly scroll handles. 🏺 #ancientbluesky

4th-3rd c. BCE.

#GettyVilla (2003.193)
Core-formed, large dark blue (cobalt) glass alabastron decorated with a vertically combed feather pattern in alternating opaque white, yellow and turquoise. A feather pattern is made by having horizontal lines of colors, and then pulling an object vertically through that pattern, up and down, to pull the colors in opposite directions, making what looks like feathers with quills. The yellow and turquoise are really striking, particularly on cobalt blue glass. The wide, flat lip has a thread of yellow around its edge. Two small scroll handles are attached on opposite sides of the upper body. Half of the rim had been replaced with a modern synthetic material. Greek, 4th-3rd century BCE. Getty Villa Museum (2003.193)
February 8, 2025 at 7:13 PM
isabellemarie.bsky.social
Traces of Opium Detected on Egyptian Alabastron.
archaeology.org/news/2025/10...
News - Traces of Opium Detected on Egyptian Alabastron - Archaeology Magazine
NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT—According to an IFL Science report, traces of opium have been detected in […]
archaeology.org
October 29, 2025 at 5:15 PM
saveancientstudies.bsky.social
✨ This is an ancient glass perfume bottle! This bottle, called an alabastron, originated in Greece and is estimated to be from around the 1st century BCE. However, the first version of these types of glasses is speculated to be from Egypt.
September 30, 2026 at 4:47 AM
chapps.bsky.social
The gold swirls are made by sandwiching gold leaf between layers of colorless glass. This alabastron is dated to the 1st c. BCE-1st c. CE, and is one of three that greet you upon entering the Greek and Roman glass collection at the #GettyVilla, where many more can be found. 🏺 2/

flic.kr/p/2rhw6Vc
Glass flask and alabastra
These three ancient glass vessels were made to hold perfume or scented oil. On the left is a dark blue (cobalt) and opaque white glass core-formed flask. In the middle is a gold band alabastron, w...
flic.kr
July 20, 2025 at 9:29 PM
cptsophia.bsky.social
Και ξαφνικά βρέθηκα σε οικείο περιβάλλον
Lekythos Corinthian alabastron, 600BC Lekythos, probably depicting a funeral setting
May 31, 2026 at 11:14 AM
bwallower.bsky.social
#SarcophaphagusSaturday 🏺
In Magna Graecia era in Taranto c. 500BC, a star athlete was buried in this sarcophagus.
In his hand, he held an alabastron, an ointment jar used by athletes. At the tomb's corners were amphorae bearing images indicating he was a prize-winning pentathlete.
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MArTA
A stone sarcophagus is viewed from the narrow end. It has a slanted roof, split in the middle, that slides open. This view shows a decorated gable end, with leaf motif on the centre gable and at each side. Beyond are two cases, one holding a black-figured amphora the other a plain amphora. The coffin was excavated in 1959. Inside was the well-preserved skeleton of a man who died between 500 and 480 BC. In his left hand, he held an alabastron, a small ointment jar used by athletes. On top of the tomb were three amphorae and fragments of a fourth. They are Panathenaic amphorae – referring to the festival of the Great Panathenaea, which was celebrated in Athens every fourth year. They were given as prizes, and are illustrated with the relevant discipline. Careful analysis of the amphorae revealed that the athlete must have participated in the gruelling Pentathlon. The amphorae of the Athlete from Taranto depict the race with quadrigas, boxing scenes and two disciplines that are part of the pentathlon: long jump and discus throwing
May 30, 2026 at 11:01 AM
chapps.bsky.social
There's a remarkable and rare image on this humble terracotta alabastron (perfume bottle). It depicts an Ethiopian in the Persian army. He's an archer, wearing a Persian sleeved jerkin, linen cuirass, and anaxyrides (trousers), all embroidered. 🏺 1/

Athens, ca. 480 BCE
📸 me #ancientbluesky
White-ground (white background - natural clay color, unglazed) -alabastron, or perfumed oil bottle, tall and round on the bottom with a flat disc top and small hole, which would have once had a stopper. The top disc and neck are painted brown, with one thick and three thin lines running around the top of the body of the vessel, below the neck, also painted in brown. In a darker brown is the sketch of the Ethiopian archer. His hair looks white, but the hair is represented as dots around the top, and his face, turned back to the left, is dark. He’s wearing long sleeves decorated in a dotted pattern, and a linen cuirass (body armor), with long striped and dotted trousers. This figure could perhaps represents Memnon himself, attired as a Persian archer. In his right hand - not seen in the photo - he holds a double-headed axe, and over his left arm is draped a garment with a meander border and fringe.
October 29, 2025 at 7:24 PM
zebrakater.bsky.social
Archäologische Funde aus dem Museum Castelvetrano: Alabastra, 6. Jh. v. Chr.

Alabastra (Singular: Alabastron) waren dünne Gefäße zur Aufbewahrung von Ölen und Salben. Sie wurden vor allem von Frauen benutzt.
Auf einem grünem Textiluntergrund liegen zwei etwa 20cm lange, schlanke, braun glänzende Tongefäße.
April 16, 2025 at 7:25 PM
cjonesny.com
Ye olde Cylindrical Alabastron.
May 22, 2026 at 7:40 AM
chapps.bsky.social
The Persian army included soldiers from many nations of their empire. Herodotus recorded that an Ethiopian contingent fought with Xerxes at the Battle of Plataia, echoing the story that Memnon, mythical king of Ethiopia, fought against the Greeks at Troy. 🏺 2/

flic.kr/p/2rBrE1c
Athenian alabastron depicting an Ethiopian in the Persian army
An Athenian white-ground alabastron (perfume flask) depicting an Ethiopian soldier in the Persian army. The Persian army included soldiers from many nations of the Persian empire. An Ethiopian conti...
flic.kr
October 29, 2025 at 7:24 PM
metsky.bsky.social
Glass alabastron (perfume bottle), late 4th–early 3rd century BCE
Class: Glass
Culture: Greek, Eastern Mediterranean or Italian
Medium: Glass
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/250004
Glass alabastron (perfume bottle), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
April 12, 2025 at 3:22 PM
bwallower.bsky.social
#GlassObjectThursday 🏺
Western #Greek culture in Italy left us a striking alabastron (perfume bottle) c. 400-300 BC, found in Ruvo, Puglia.

Bequeathed to British Museum by Sir William Temple, British Ambassador in Naples, in 1856.
A long thin glass perfume bottle with orange, black and light blue trails, tapering to a bulbous bottom. It has a cylindrical neck topped with a flat rim disk with orange edge.
July 23, 2026 at 12:56 PM
slamancienart.bsky.social
Oil Flask (alabastron) https://www.slam.org/collection/objects/28807/
Oil Flask (alabastron)
April 27, 2026 at 5:20 PM
stonkers.bsky.social
Realizing i misread the label and thought this was alabaster, when in fact it's ceramic (makes the differently glazed straps make more sense and also the fact that it isn't very heavy). It's called an alabastron!
May 9, 2024 at 10:13 PM
metsky.bsky.social
Terracotta alabastron (jar), ca. 1600–1050 BCE
Class: Vases
Culture: Mycenaean
Medium: Terracotta
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/240359
Terracotta alabastron (jar), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
October 29, 2024 at 3:25 PM
bmegyptian.bsky.social
Cylindrical Alabastron https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/127846
Cylindrical Alabastron
November 16, 2025 at 5:08 PM
aicbyzantine.bsky.social
Alabastron (Container for Scented Oil) https://www.artic.edu/artworks/43347/
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. Gift of Theodore W. and Frances S. Robinson
September 27, 2026 at 3:17 PM