Discover Top Posts Tagged with #vessels

They're still bothering her

#fan art #hollow knight #hk ghost #hk hornet #the hollow knight #pale siblings #vessels

Dove-Shaped Perfume Vessels from Ancient Rome, c.50 CE: these glass vessels were filled with scented oils or cosmetic powders and then sealed, meaning that their contents could only be accessed by breaking the dove's neck or tail

These bottles were created and used as unguentaria (otherwise known as balsamaria) which are ancient vessels that were typically filled with scented oils, cosmetic powders, balms, or ointments. Unguentaria could be crafted from ceramic, glass, or stone, and they came in various shapes and sizes, but dove-shaped vessels made of glass were especially popular during the second half of the 1st century CE, when they were produced and distributed throughout the Roman Empire.

Above: a dove-shaped unguentarium with residue from the original contents still visible inside

Each bottle was crafted from blown-glass that was carefully modeled into the shape of a bird; the inner cavity was then filled with perfume or cosmetic powder, and the tip of the tail was reheated and compressed, effectively sealing the vessel.

Above: dove-shaped vessels that were opened and emptied long ago, c.50-100 CE

As this article explains:

The vessels were produced with glass blowing pipes by so-called "free blowing," and are for this reason extremely thin-walled, with body thicknesses significantly below 0.1 cm.

After the containers had been filled, the tail feathers were sealed airtight by reheating to protect the contents from moisture. Parts of the containers, such as the head or tail feathers, had to be broken off in order to access the contents of the vessels, which means that they were disposable packaging.

Above: vessels with the tips of their tails broken off

Most of these bottles were made from clear or pale blue Roman glass, but some were crafted with a dark blue, green, purple, or yellow appearance instead:

As cheap, mass-produced goods, the packaging consisted mainly of the conventional thin-walled and transparent Roman glass with an unintentional light blue colouring. Specimens made of intentionally coloured transparent glass (e.g. dark blue, dark green, violet or yellow) are less common. This may also have to do with the fact that the pink or white contents could be visually better distinguished and marketed if the vessels were made of the conventional Roman glass, which offered more transparency to the beholder than the intentionally coloured glass.

Above: a sealed unguentarium that likely contains scented oils and cosmetic residue, from Rovesenda, Italy, c.50 CE

Research suggests that many of these bottles were filled with powder, including pink substances that have been described as "blush" or "rouge," while others were filled with liquid.

Above: more dove-shaped unguentaria from the Roman Empire

Vessels with this design (which is also known as Isings form 11) have been unearthed at Roman-era sites located throughout Europe:

Evidence shows that these glass containers were widely marketed in the Roman Empire. The main areas of distribution are the central and northern Italian regions of Campania et Latium, Venetia et Histria, and Transpadana, along with the northwestern provinces of Gallia Belgica, Gallia Lugdunensis, Germania inferior and Germania superior [in what is now Italy, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands].

There is also evidence from the Balkan and Danube region in the provinces of Dalmatia and Pannonia, and also from the eastern Mediterranean in the provinces of Achaea, Creta et Cyrenae and Macedonia. The distribution in the western Mediterranean seems to be limited to Hispania Tarraconensis.

Above: the severed heads of two bird-shaped unguentaria

Sources & More Info:

Glassware and Glassworking in Thessaloniki: 1st Century BC-6th Century AD: Bird-Shaped Inguentaria (Isings Form 11)

The Austrian Archaeological Institute: New Finds of Bird-Shaped Glass Vessels with Residues of their Former Content

The British Museum: Roman Perfume Bottle in the Shape of a Bird

Società Friulana di Archeologia: Glass Doves and Globes from Thessaloniki: North Italian Imports or Local Products?

Analytical Chemistry for Archaeology and Cultural Heritage: Compositional Analysis of Greco-Roman Unguentaria Residues

Metropolitan Museum of Art: Glass Bottle in the Shape of a Bird

#archaeology #artifacts #dove-shaped perfume bottles #unguentaria #ancient rome #history #anthropology #glass art #vessels #perfume vials #ancient art #roman #balsamaria #perfume #cosmetics #beauty products #art #crafting #glass blowing

two vessels in crayon, 2025

#art #illustration #crayon #vessels

where

#lost kin #broken vessel #greenpath vessel #pure vessel #thk #little ghost #hornet #zio #hollow knight #my art #silksong #void siblings #pale siblings #vessels

Unknown, Italian, probably Urbino Ewer in the form of a dragon ca. 1600 Maiolica (tin-glazed earthenware) Overall (confirmed): 8 1/16 × 7 1/4 × 3 13/16 in. (20.5 × 18.4 × 9.7 cm)

#unknown #dragons #vessels #ceramics

The idea that Hornet and the Hollow Knight may have known each other in the brief interval before sealing away the Radiance (for a time) makes me so sick. They had to, surely, or at the very least are connected by something intrinsic. The Hollow Knight has Hornet's same attacks--her parry and her forward-dash. Or, perhaps more accurately, Hornet has the Hollow Knight's attacks. It makes more sense--perhaps they had the same teacher. Perhaps it is simply something coincidence, intrinsic to their beings.

Or perhaps Hornet was once a small little spiderling, roaming the White Palace, and she watched her sibling spar with the best knights and fighters in all of Hallownest. Again and again, the Pale King demanded, until the vessel was perfect. No moment of reprieve, not a single foot misplaced. A knight falls, again. A sword wobbles, again. And when it's all done perfectly, do it all again, until they are perfect every single time.

The Hollow Knight is exhausted. But they obey. They don't know that Hornet watches, and she holds a tiny needle that could do no more than sow fabric. Doesn't know she stands aside and copies, watches how they move, how they jab, whirl and dance. She trips over her own feet, but she stands up and does it again, and again, and again. Hollow doesn't give up, Hollow keeps going, so she won't stop until they stop. Maybe then they could spar one day. No one wants to spar with the princess, but Hollow doesn't care for anything. Their father said it himself. Hornet doesn't know if thats true, but Hollow lets her hide behind their horns and try to lift a nail six times the size of her.

In years time, Hornet would perfect those attacks down to a science. A prodigy in her own right. The battle tactics she learned from watching her sibling are the same she uses now, as she cuts down even more of her family, vessel after vessel, as they try to reach the Black Egg. Hollow has unwittingly taught her how to slay their kin for the sake of eternal slumber, the last show of protection she knows how to do.

And yet, this is of benefit, too. For the Ghost that has fought her, knows her attacks, recognizes it. They stand before the Hollow Knight and they see it, they know these attacks. Jump up, dash, watch for the way the feet brace and be lighter than a feather. They know this dance. The fight comes almost naturally, they've done this before. A fight easier than it should have been--because they see Hornet dashing their way, and it feels a little less intimidating.

I wonder if, through the Infection riddling the Hollow Knight's mind, they could even recognize the nail digging into their skull. If they saw the red dress, the body holding their head back. If, just before the fall, a single, unbidden thought entered the mind of the Pure Vessel: I know you.

#hollow knight #the hollow knight #pure vessel #why have we not come up with a proper tag for hk character PLEASE.#hk hollow knight #little ghost #ghost hollow knight #hornet #hornet hollow knight #headcanons #text post #vessels #im so sick. chewing the walls #and hornet wouldve been just a lil babeyyyyy when she wouldve known hk #perhaps she barely even remembers them. little flashes. she just knows she likes to fight like this #in the way a person cant describe a fear of dogs when they were bitten by one as a toddler #so she feels some sympathy when entering the black egg. but she must do this #but the hollow knight? theyve had a long time with nothing but their memories as they lay chained #of course they rememeber the spiderling. the brightest flash of color in the whole palace #the one of few bugs that did not speak with reverence or fear #they found sometimes they preferred it. their father spoke with commands. their mother was always so sad and too sweet #all hornet wished for was someone to play with. they didnt know how to play. but they did not say no and that was enough #did they feel joy? knowing that even in their failure to fully seal the radiance hornet had still lived? grown into such a fierce warrior?#perhaps they thought. i could not stop it completely. but i gave her time. i gave her time and she is here now. i know you. i remember you #youve gotten so big #when did that happen?