Glass Perfume Flask

Divers recovered this small, blue glass flask from the Cirebon / Nan-Han shipwreck off Java's north coast. Believed to be a perfume flask from the Middle East, it was recovered alongside a variety of Middle Eastern objects, including other glassware, pottery and valuable pearls, as well as items from India, China and Africa. The ship's cargo reveals much about maritime trade routes during the 10th century CE. 

The glass objects found aboard reflect techniques developed between the 8th and 10th centuries CE and attributed to Egypt, Persia and Syria. The completeness of this flask is remarkable, as Middle Eastern glassware of the time was known for its fragility.