{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O340848"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O340848/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2013GL5018/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2013GL5018/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2013GL5018","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2013GL5021","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2013GL5024","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O340848/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O340848","accessionNumber":"C.737-1922","objectType":"Bottle","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"Bottle for perfume, blown and flattened into a rectangular bottle of square section with cylindrical collar, of thick, heavy, clear olive-green-tinged glass. The neck is chipped and half of rim is missing.","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"Glass","id":"AAT10797"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Glass, blown","categories":[],"styles":[{"text":"Abbasid","id":"AAT21521"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"CER","id":"THES48594"},"images":["2013GL5018","2013GL5021","2013GL5024"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"131 (VA)","id":"THES49882"},"free":"","case":"85","shelf":"4","box":"C"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Fragment","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[],"productionDates":[],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by H.M. Government\r\n\r\nThe research, cataloguing and digitisation of the V&A's Samarra collection has been made possible by a pilot project grant from the British Institute for the Study of Iraq (2013).","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"3.9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Overall","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"2.9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Base to shoulder","note":""},{"dimension":"Length","value":"2.0","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"At base","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"1.6","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"At base","note":""},{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"0.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Opening inside neck","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"The ancient city of Samarra, on the Tigris River, Iraq, 125 km north of Baghdad, was the site of the first  large-scale archaeological investigation into Islamic antiquities. It was excavated  between 1911 and 1913 by the German archaeologists Ernst  Herzfeld (1879-1948) Friedrich Sarre (1865-1945R). The list of finds, numbered in  excess of 1,161 fragments.  This included wall paintings, carved stucco wall revetments, carved and  painted woodwork, architectural  details carved from both marble and  alabaster, smaller finds of glass vessels and mosaic tesserae, ceramics, steatite, iron nails and  mother of pearl inlays. Not all the pieces were excavated by the German team, some were chance finds purchased from the locals, which accounts for lack of provenance in the Finds Journal.\r\n\r\nIn 836 AD, the Abbasid Caliph al- Mu'tasim (r. 833-842) moved his  capital to Samarra from Baghdad.  He commissioned the construction  of an imperial city with a network  of canals,  monumental mosques,  palaces, baths, gardens, racecourses and wide open areas to the east and west of the settlement in which to pursue the courtly activities of hunting wild animals. He also allocated  land to military and court officials, who built similarly richly decorated palacial  complexes.  His son and successor, the Caliph al- Mutawakkil (r. 847-861), ordered  the construction of the famous spiral minaret at the great  mosque. Construction halted at  Samarra in about 880 AD and later was abandoned by the Caliph and  his court in 892. However, parts of the site continued to be occupied as proven in this collection by some 11th-13th-century ceramics. Indeed the excavators noted some 13th century Raqqa lustre wares in the fill at Qasr al-ÿÿshiq, a palace on the west bank of the Tigris.\r\n\r\nAfter Samarra was captured in April 1917 by  the British in World War I, the remaining finds were moved to  Basra via Baghdad, where Gertrude Bell (1868-1926), as honorary Director of Antiquities in  Iraq, acted as the art advisor to  the V&A. Due to the efforts of the  directors of both the V&A and the  British Museum, the finds were eventually shipped to London in 1921. The Foreign and Colonial Office convened a commission at  the British Museum, which Herzfeld was invited to preside over, in order to divide the  Samarra finds into type sets.  These were later offered to over twenty different museums and  collections including the V&A which  received several hundred objectsR  in all media, accessioned in 1922.\r\n ","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Perfume or scent bottle, clear glass, square shape; Iraq, 9th century","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["C.737-1922"],"accessionNumberNum":"737","accessionNumberPrefix":"C","accessionYear":1922,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"Herzfeld's red inventory number on object","id":"THES56951"},"number":"I-N 177"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-22","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-24","availableToBook":false}}