Date Flask
Front
Date Flask 2019-08-14
Name/Title
Date FlaskEntry/Object ID
11NE-Mi35-173Description
The rim is rounded and uneven, folded outward. The mouth is small and the neck is cylindrical with a slight constriction. The body of the vessel was blown in a two or three part mold, leaving one vertical mold seam. The body is date-shaped and rounds at the base. The flask is in the form of a date with a relief pattern of short straight ridges, imitating the wrinkles on the skin of a ripe date. The vessel is intact with some iridescence.Use
Perfume VesselContext
Date-shaped flasks were very popular toilet bottles during the late first and second centuries CE. They were created in Sidonian workshops near the Syro-Palestine coast. Concentrations of these finds center around the eastern Mediterranean but the first datable date-shaped vessel comes from Trier, Germany discovered in a Claudian period (41-54 CE) grave. These vessels were made in two or three part clay molds so the molds could be drawn away from the vessel once cooled and re-used to reproduce the vessels quickly. This was much more efficient compared to traditional mold-blown vessels as a mold would be created, only to be cracked open to retrieve the vessel, destroying the original mold. There are no published analyses of the contents of these popular Sidonian vessels. However, their constricted necks and small mouths suggest that they were used to hold scented oils or perfumes. In the Near East and ancient Rome, expensive scents were typically held in unusual containers which exemplified their extravagance. It is also thought that glass vessels in the shape of fruit likely held the scent of said fruit. Therefore, this date-flask may have held a date scented perfume or oil. This vessel follows Isings form 78 D.Made/Created
Date made
50 CE - 150 CETime Period
Roman ImperialEthnography
Culture/Tribe
Near Eastern - Syro-Palestine