Glass aryballus (oil bottle) with bronze suspension chain

Glass aryballus (oil bottle) with bronze suspension chain

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Translucent blue green; handles in same color. Collar rim folded out, down, round, and up, with outward flange at top; cylindrical neck with tooling marks around base; globular body; rounded bottom; two opposed ring handles applied to top of body, with tooled groove at outer edge of pad. Intact, except for tiny weathered chip on rim; few bubbles; slight soil encrustation, dulling, and some iridescent weathering on exterior, soil deposits and brownish weathering on interior. Attached to each handle, a circular bronze ring made by bending length of wire into circle, held in place by twisting the overlapping ends; attached to rings two long bronze chains, square in profile, both attached at other ends to another ring of tear-drop, also attached to this ring is another short length of bronze chain and then another circular bronze ring. Since the ancients did not have soap, they used olive oil to help cleanse their skin. Bottles such as this one were ideal for carrying one’s own supply to the baths.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Glass aryballus (oil bottle) with bronze suspension chainGlass aryballus (oil bottle) with bronze suspension chainGlass aryballus (oil bottle) with bronze suspension chainGlass aryballus (oil bottle) with bronze suspension chainGlass aryballus (oil bottle) with bronze suspension chain

The Museum's collection of Greek and Roman art comprises more than thirty thousand works ranging in date from the Neolithic period (ca. 4500 B.C.) to the time of the Roman emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity in A.D. 312. It includes the art of many cultures and is among the most comprehensive in North America. The geographic regions represented are Greece and Italy, but not as delimited by modern political frontiers: Greek colonies were established around the Mediterranean basin and on the shores of the Black Sea, and Cyprus became increasingly Hellenized. For Roman art, the geographical limits coincide with the expansion of the Roman Empire. The department also exhibits the art of prehistoric Greece (Helladic, Cycladic, and Minoan) and pre-Roman art of Italic peoples, notably the Etruscans.