Two glass vessels · Europe-Antiques, roman · ID: 3036820
Ingrid Richter, Bergisch Gladbach, Germany
Description
a) pale green blown glass bottle, h: 14,5 cm, tear drop form body, long neck and flared, rolled rim lip, light iridescence and light encrustation; b) pale green blown candlestick unguentarium, h: 11,7 cm, squat globular body, long neck, air pockets, light encrustations;
an “unguentarium”, “balsamarium” or “lacrimarium” is a small glass or ceramic bottle. It was used to held ointments, oils, perfumes and cosmetics, amongst many other items. Because many “unguentariums” were also found in ancient cemeteries, and they seem somewhat impractical in form, it is romanticized that they were used as tear-catchers for mourning loved ones. However, the general thought today in analyzing the ancient contents is that this idea is just a myth.
The object Two glass vessels with the object ID 3036820 was last part of the auction 77th tribal art auction at June 28, 2014 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house. The object with the lot number 111 achieved a sales price of EUR 270.