These beautiful swan necked bottles were supposedly to catch the tears of wives separated from their husbands. Their real purpose remains unknown.
The Rijksmuseum description says:
These Iranian “swan neck” bottles are very elegant in shape. They were very popular with Western travelers and tourists. They are found in abundance in European collections. One of these pieces was bought at the Persian section of the 1883 Amsterdam World’s Fair. According to a romantic tradition, the bottles with their curious spout were used to collect the tears of women whose husbands were fighting at the front.
These glass bottles may date from the 16th century when Venetian glassmakers went to Iran with their glass making skills and the Iranian city of Shiraz emerged as the center of glass production.. But it also may date to as late as the 19th century.
Similar bottles appear in 16th century paintings from the Safavid period in Iran but none with the distinctive mouth shape or swan neck seen in these bottles. References from that period do however mention that these “Ashkdans” collected the tears of women’s lamentations, thus providing the only story for these objects that we have today.
These bottles were brought to my attention by the artist AI Ozaki who used them as direct inspiration for some of her own works.
Where is it?
Room 0.10 on the ground floor of the museum
Further Reading:
Investigating the Form and Application of Carafes Known as Ashkdan in the Collection of the Metropolitan Museum in Bagh-e Nazar, the academic journal of Nazar Research Center for Art, Architecture and Urbanism (2022)
Tear Catcher, website of AI Ozaki
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