Details

LOT 0947

Late Roman Glass Double Unguentarium

5TH-6TH CENTURY A.D.

4 1/2 in. (5 3/8 in.) (53.7 grams, 11.6 cm (116 grams total, 13.5 cm including stand)).

Composed of two conjoined tapering tubular cells, with lateral applied handles at the shoulder, decorated with applied trails; mounted on a custom-made stand.

Provenance

From an important London collection of glass, 1990s.
This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Literature

Cf. Bergman, M. et al., Ancient Glass in the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, 1980, items 194-198, for similar; Whitehouse, D., Roman Glass in the Corning Museum of Glass, vol.2, New York, 2001, item 742, for type.

Footnotes

These late Roman double cosmetic tubes were mainly produced in the Eastern provinces. They were formed as two tubes, side by side, made from a single bubble of glass by pinching the sides vertically to form a diaphragm. The decoration consisted of a trail wound once around the body just below the rim, and a further trail wound in a spiral several times around the body.