Photograph by Ed Pollard, Sony a7R II 2021.

Perfume bottle

Date1990

MediumBlown glass

DimensionsOverall: 6 1/4 × 2 1/2 × 2 3/16 in. (15.9 × 6.4 × 5.6 cm)

SignedSigned and dated with engraving at edge on the base: “AB + AG ’90.”

Credit LineGift of Cynthia and Stuart Katz

Object number2021.45.22

On View

Not on view

DescriptionA heavy bottle with rounded shoulders that narrow to a low waist and broadens slightly to a flat bottom. Free blown. Transparent colorless glass encases two other colors, as with a sommerso Italian effect: the glass is translucent purple from the shoulders to the mid-point of the vessel, and this is the hollow portion for the perfume; a small section of transparent light blue glass is beneath the purple, and the lower portion is a thick solid base of transparent colorless glass. The shoulders narrow drastically, and the rim is essentially a thin purple glass ledge. The transparent colorless glass applicator rod has rounded ends, the top end thickens like a tear-drop to provide a stopper hold (there is a faint roughened line where the glass meets glass of the bottle mouth).
ProvenanceFaith W. Nusbaum and Sidney L. Nusbaum II, Cynthia and Stuart Katz, Chrysler Museum of Art