The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of December 18, 2025
Siren-Shaped Perfume Flask
600–480 BCE
Overall: 12.7 x 18.1 x 6.7 cm (5 x 7 1/8 x 2 5/8 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1928.193
Location: 102C Greek
Did You Know?
In the Odyssey, Odysseus’s crew escapes the sirens by plugging their ears with wax.Description
A half-bird, half-woman creature, a siren lured sailors to death by the sweetness of her song. The most famous sirens appear in the ancient epic the Odyssey. Shaped like a siren, this vessel likely held valuable perfumed oil. Its small mouth limited spillage, and a string attached to the loops on its back allowed it to hand or hold a stopper.- Cooney, John D. “Siren and Ba, Birds of a Feather.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 55, no. 8 (October 1968): 262–271. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 264, fig. 5 www.jstor.org
- Medieval Monsters: Terrors, Aliens, Wonders. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 7-October 6, 2019).Images of the Mind. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 7-August 30, 1987).Traditions and Revisions: Themes from the History of Sculpture. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 24-November 16, 1975).
- {{cite web|title=Siren-Shaped Perfume Flask|url=false|author=|year=600–480 BCE|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1928.193