Ancient Roman Pear-Shaped Glass Bottle

£ 200.00

An Ancient Roman glass pear-shaped bottle, with a cylindrical neck expanding downwards to join imperceptibly with an ovoid body. The vessel has an everted, flaring rim and flattened bottom and a dark brown layer of encrustation on the outside and inside surface of the vessel. The natural bluish green colour of the glass of this vessel was modified in order to achieve the colourlessness and transparency. This was done by adding manganese or antimony to the primary glass mix.

Date: Early to mid 1st century AD
Condition: Very fine, intact. Dark brown layer of encrustation on the inner and outer surface of the vessel.

SOLD

Product Code: RGS-25
Category: Tag:

Glass was often the preferred material for storing expensive oils, perfumes, and medicines in antiquity because it was not porous. The small body and mouth allowed the user to carefully pour and control the amount of liquid dispensed. By the 1st century AD, the technique of glass-blowing had revolutionised the art of glass-making, allowing for the production of small medicine, incense, and perfume containers in new forms. Glass vessels are found frequently at Hellenistic and Roman sites, especially in cemeteries, and the liquids, which filled them, would have been gathered from all corners of the expansive Roman Empire.

To learn more about Roman glass, visit our relevant post: How It Was Made: Roman Glass.

Dimensions H 9.8 cm
Glass

Blown Glass

Region

Southern Europe

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