Scent Flask
c. 1680
Artists
Description
Flattened baluster on small rim foot, hung with a chain, with removable cover, engraved with borders of dog teeth enclosing on one side a panel of foliate scrolls, the other a scene of a cherub by a lake with a townscape behind. This flask is a miniature version of a pilgrim bottle. Such “toys” were customarily sold at fairs such as St. Bartholomew’s, which took place on the outskirts of London, or Stourbridge, which was held outside Cambridge.
Dimensions
6.3 × 4.1 × 2.5 cm (2 1/2 × 1 5/8 × 1 in.) 33 g
Provenance
David Berg, New York, bequest; to the Fogg Museum, 1999.
Related Artworks
View MoreMolded celadon ware: light gray stoneware with celadon glaze over molded decoration. Reportedly recovered in Taegu-myŏn, South Chŏlla province, in 1964.
12th centuryKoreanJun ware: light gray stoneware with robin's-egg blue glaze enlivened with purple suffusions from copper filings
12th-13th centuryChineseTerracotta
18th-16th century BCENear EasternTerracota
4th-3rd millennium BCEMycenaeanCeramic
ItalianEarthenware with bichrome slip-painted decoration
2nd millennium BCEChineseProto-Kaya ware: grayish buff earthenware with appliqué handles and cord-marked surfaces
1st-2nd century CEKoreanSilver, glass
18th centuryBritishTerracotta, white ground
6th century BCEGreekQingbai ware: molded porcelain with off-white glaze over trailed ribs of porcelain slip
12th-13th centuryChineseStone