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LOT 0830

Sold for (Inc. bp): £156

ROMAN FRAGMENTARY BOTTLE WITH IRIDESCENCE
1ST CENTURY A.D.
2 3/8 in. (14.3 grams, 61 mm).

Bulbous body from an unguentarium; old collector's label to underside 'N10941'. [No Reserve]

PROVENANCE:
Ex B.D., acquired in the 1930s.

Accompanied by a copy of an Art Loss Register certificate no.S00075600.
This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.

LITERATURE:
Cf. Fleming, S.J., Roman Glass, Reflexions of Everyday Life, Philadelphia, 1997, p.4, lett.a, for shape and date; p.17, pl.24, for similar type.

FOOTNOTES:
The specimen represents an unguentarium, usually a perfume bottle. However, many of the herbs used by Romans for cosmetics - henna, iris, and saffron, had medicinal value as well, so it is not surprising that bottles that so often assumed to have been containing perfumes were sometimes employed for the storage of astringents and soothing lotions.

CONDITION
VETTING:
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