Collection Item – Teece Museum of Classical Antiquities

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From:UC Teece Museum of Classical Antiquities

Name/TitleFlask

About this objectMiniature flasks like this were used almost exclusively for perfumes. The narrow necks with rounded bodies were ideal for the fragrant oils and could be stoppered with cork or wood fragments. This vase has been made of fine orange-brown clay and the slip has fired grey-brown. It has a bulbous body and an elongated neck, perfect for slowing pouring out the contents.

Perfumes were an important part of daily life for ancient cultures. As far back as the Bronze Age perfumes were manufactured and exported around the Mediterranean. They were used for spiritual and religious ceremonies, and for personal hygiene. Ancient cultures would also sometimes anoint the dead with scented oils and leave bottles of perfume with the burial. It was also thought that perfumes had healing properties, and Hippocrates (the 'father of medicine') prescribed fumigation and perfumes to ward off illness.

Both the Greeks and the Romans were devotees of public baths, and after exercise and bathing would often be massaged with scented oils before heading off to their next engagement. Given that soap was unknown at that point, the various fragrances could hide a multitude of sins of personal hygiene.

Date Madeca. 1st century CE

PeriodEarly Imperial

Medium and MaterialsCeramic: Pottery

Style and IconographyRoman

Style and IconographyHellenistic

TechniqueThrowing (pottery technique)

MeasurementsHeight 75mm; Diameter 32mm

Subject and Association KeywordsCosmetics

Subject and Association KeywordsPersonal beauty

Subject and Association KeywordsMourning customs

Named CollectionThe James Logie Memorial Collection, University of Canterbury, New Zealand

Credit LineDonated by Mrs Broadhead, 1968.From the collection of Professor H.D. Broadhead.

Object TypeStorage Vessels

Object number83.68