Terracotta alabastron (perfume vase)

A slender terracotta perfume vase with a flared mouth and pear-shaped body, decorated in the orange and black of Attic pottery. Bands of checkerboard, stylized palmettes, and drooping tendrils wrap the body, and a small mask-like face sits at one side of the shoulder.

Look closer: A small mask-like face, likely Medusa, is modeled at the handle on the left shoulder.

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. 520 BCE

Medium

Terracotta

Source

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Size

3791 × 3792 px

Credit (appreciated, not required for public-domain works): The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1941