- Title
- Bottle
- Date Made
- 8th-9th century
- Medium
- Glass, blown in two parts with impressed decoration
- Dimensions
- Height: 2 1/2 in. (6.35 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.2002.1.491
- Collecting Area
- Art of the Middle East: Islamic
- Curatorial Notes
In the transitional decades from the Late Antique to the early Islamic era, glass production largely continued unabated using the same forms, styles, and techniques. In time, however, craftsmen working under the new faith and leadership pioneered novel methods for decorating and manipulating the malleable and adaptable material. Such is the case with this partially preserved vessel, originally a long-necked bottle, which required great technical skill because it was made in two parts joined at the shoulder (see M.88.129.184). The vivid contrast between the purple upper part and the lower section of colorless glass is enhanced by pressed designs—bosses on the top and roundels enclosing small bosses on the bottom—that give texture to the bottle. Although two glass vessels decorated in this technique carry inscriptions indicating that they were made in Cairo, there is as yet insufficient evidence to suggest that all such glasswares were produced in Egypt.
2024
