Photograph by Ed Pollard, Hasselblad H4D50 - 2013.

Images(3)

Quadruple Cosmetic Tube

Manufacturer Unknown

Date4th century

MediumBlown glass

DimensionsOverall: 4 in. (10.2 cm)
Overall, Rim: 1 1/4 in. (3.2 cm)

ClassificationsGlass

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.6834

Terms

Green

Collections

Glass Art

On View

On view

DescriptionUnguentarium/quadruple cosmetic tube of blown green glass. "Quarter tear flank". Decorated with rather heavy threading and festoons (or zigzags) 1" high from the rim down flat bottom. Fairly thick iridescence.

Label TextRoman Empire, probably Palestine Area Unguentarium (Quadruple cosmetic tube), 4th century A.D. Blown glass; applied threads Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.6834 Kohl tubes were decorative glass vessels that held eye cosmetics in either paste or powder form, and were one of the most widely produced vessels in the Palestinian glasshouses. They served both fashionable and practical demands, for the paste helped abate eye diseases. The form dated sometime from the ninth to fourth century B.C. During the fifth and sixth centuries A.D., kohl tubes began to get bigger and more decorative. The tubes doubled, and then doubled again to four compartments with elaborately tooled ornamentation.