Pearls of Wisdom: The Arts of Islam at the University of Michigan

This spear-shaped flask is decorated with a wave pattern, which is created by marvering white threads of glass around a glass body of contrasting color. The threads are combed or pulled while still in a semi-liquid form. This color combination of blue-purple glass with white threads is typical of the technique of glass marvering, which was quite popular in the medieval period. This small flask would have been used to store cosmetic materials such as kohl powder or essential oils.

Bibliography: Carboni 2001, 304; Carboni and Whitehouse 2001, 139; Jenkins 1986, 37; Scanlon and Pinder-Wilson 2001; and Pinder-Wilson and Scanlon 1973.