Bottle
Unknown Artist
8th–9th century
Medium
Glass; free blown; tooled on the pontil
Dimensions
H. 3 1/8 in. (7.9 cm) Diam. ca. 2 3/8 in. (6 cm)
Classification
Glass
Department
Islamic Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Henry G. Marquand, 1881
Accession Number
81.10.287
Art Historical Context
This delicate glass bottle, dating to the 8th–9th century, hails from the vibrant world of Islamic art, where artisans crafted everyday objects into exquisite works of beauty. Standing just over 3 inches tall with a diameter of about 2⅜ inches, its petite size suggests it once held precious perfumes, oils, or spices—luxuries that symbolized refinement in Abbasid-era households across the Middle East and beyond. Now housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's of Islamic Art, it was generously gifted by Henry G. Marquand in 1881, preserving a glimpse of medieval ingenuity. Crafted using free-blo...