CIRCA 7TH-9TH CENTURY A.D.

Tubular containers for cosmetics mounted on zoomorphic figures were made in the East in the late Roman-early Islamic/early Byzantine period. The idea of mounting small containers onto quadrupeds may have derived from the production of glass toys and figurines. Cf. a double balsamarium supported by two horses formerly in the Ray Winfield Smith collection and now in the Corning Museum of Glass, acc. no. 55.1.109, Goldstein, 2005, no. 19, and Carboni, 2001, p. 25, no. 4b.