Polychrome Glass Aryballos (Oil Flask)

6th century BCE

2 5/8 in. x 1 15/16 in. (6.6 cm x 4.9 cm)

This object has the following keywords:

• aryballoi - Relatively small ancient Greek vessels with a globular body, a short neck, a flat disk-shaped mouth with a small orifice, and a handle (or sometimes two) extending from the shoulder to the rim; used for holding oils, perfumes, and ointments. They are usually made of terracotta. Uses of the aryballoi included in funeral rituals and by athletes who wore them on their wrists, suspended by thongs or strings.
• glass - An amorphous, inorganic substance made by fusing silica (silicon dioxide) with a basic oxide; generally transparent but often translucent or opaque. Its characteristic properties are its hardness and rigidity at ordinary temperatures, its capacity for plastic working at elevated temperatures, and its resistance to weathering and to most chemicals except hydrofluoric acid. Used for both utilitarian and decorative purposes, it can be formed into various shapes, colored or decorated. Glass originated as a glaze in Mesopotamia in about 3500 BCE and the first objects made wholly of glass date to about 2500 BCE.
• molding - Giving form to something by use of a mold; usually refers to pressing a material into the mold, as distinct from pouring liquid material into the mold, for which prefer "casting."

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