Oud-Romeins Glas Perfume bottle, Unguentarium

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Roman glass perfectly shaped unguentarium blown from translucent glass, used for keeping expensive unguents, perfumes or cosmetic oils. The vessel sits upon a flat base and features a globular body which tapers to a cylindrical neck and an out-splayed folded rim. The unguentarium shows a very appealing Iridescence and holds encrustations of sand in the interior.

Height: ± 65,8 mm
Condition: Good solid condition, a delicate and perfectly shaped unguentarium. Signs of wear (top rim), consistent with age and use.

Certificate of Authenticity: available upon request (pdf-format).


-> -> Roman glass vessels of this type were made by free-blowing, a technique that transformed glass production in the Roman world. It allowed craftsmen to create elegant and practical bottles quickly, making glassware far more common in everyday life than before.

Glass vessels became widely used across the Roman Empire for storing and pouring oils, perfumes, medicines, and other valuable liquids. Their popularity reflects the high level of Roman craftsmanship and the spread of glassmaking technology throughout the ancient Mediterranean.

The Romans played a major role in the development and distribution of glassware. From the 1st century BC onwards, the invention of glass-blowing made it possible to produce vessels in larger numbers and in a wider variety of shapes. Bottles with rounded bodies and long necks such as this were both functional and visually refined.

Many Roman glass vessels have survived thanks to burial conditions, often developing a soft iridescent surface over time through long interaction with the soil. Objects such as this provide a direct glimpse into Roman domestic life, trade, and the growing importance of glass as a useful and attractive material in the ancient world.


-> Glass has always been found in nature, but the humans first created glass about 4.000 years ago. when ancient craftsmen in Mesopotamia discovered the art of mixing sand, soda and lime to make glass.
For centuries, glass was a luxury item and reserved for the upper classes.

Glassmaking centers around the Mediterranean world experimented with new techniques (casting, core-forming, mosaic glass) and with colours by adding metallic oxides (cobalt, copper, etc) to the mixture.

The Romans learned the glass-making craft after the conquest of Egypt in the 1st century BC. During the 1st century AD the glassblowing technique revolutionized the production and made it possible to produce larger quantities. By adding manganese dioxide Roman glassmakers successfully produced colourless or ‘aqua’ glass for the first time.

Roman glass became a very popular material, used for beads, glass windows, mosaic tiles, tableware pieces etc. Roman glass was traded all over the Roman Empire and far beyond to Central Africa, Scandinavia and via the Silk Route to China.