Aryballos

The aryballos is a small vase for perfumes and oils, usually oval or spherical and with a narrow neck. Similar containers were frequent between the sixth and first centuries B.C. We find them in all regions of the Mediterranean and their form recalls the Greek pottery vases of the same period. This example is dark blue and is decoratedwith a zigzag pattern and horizontal bands of blue and yellow. It was made by the "friable core-technique": the objectwas modelled with a mixtureof clay and sand on a metal core, than covered in hot glass paste and rolled on a metal plate to smooth it. The typical"festoon" decoration was produced by applying coloured threds of glass and spreading them with a comb.