Perfurmed water flask in the shape of a four-legged animal

An inventive fusion of form and function, this perfume container, sized to fit comfortably in the hand, was worked into the shape of a quadruped with a long, curving neck, a pointed face, and large ears-most likely a camel or a donkey. A stable base of four sprawled legs supports a pear-shaped, small-mouthed vessel of greenish blown glass; a chain of upward-facing triangular projections creates a basket around the base of the vessel, while the knobbed tail acts as a thumb rest to assist in pouring out the scented contents. More than twenty comparable "quadruped containers" are known today, each one unique because of the handwork employed by the glassmaker in fashioning the legs, neck, head, basket, and tail from separately applied thick trails of glass. The resultant form of a beast of burden carrying a large wicker basket on its back, a familiar sight along the caravan