Cleveland Museum of Art
Askos
- Date
- 200–1 BCE
- Medium
- agate and gold
- Culture
- Greece, Ptolemaic Dynasty
- Department
- Greek and Roman Art
- Institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Object ID
- 141480
From the Cleveland Museum of Art record
This miniature vessel was carved from a single piece of banded agate, polished to a shine, and embellished with a gold lid and gold details on the base. Inside the ring of gold at the base is a trio of gold papyrus stalks, a likely reference to Egypt. In shape, it resembles an ancient wineskin, or askos , though its small size suggests use for luxury perfumes or oils. A tiny crab, likely once inlaid with a precious material, has been carved behind the handle. The knob on the lid connects to a hidden disk to control the flow of liquid.
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Provenance & credit
As published by the source institution. Coverage varies — not every institution's open-data feed includes ownership history.
- Credit line
- Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund
- Provenance
- by 1964: Leo Mildenberg, Bank Leu, Switzerland | 1964—: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
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