DARK PURPLE UNGUENTARIUM of Joop van der Groen
DARK PURPLE UNGUENTARIUM
Roman Empire, Eastern Mediterranean │ 1st century AD
Size: ↑ 5,2 cm; Ø max. 3,9 cm; Ø rim 1,6 cm. │ Weight: 13 gram
Technique: Free blown. Tooled.
Classification: Vessberg (1956) flask type A.III.y
Description: Transparent dark purple glass. Body __with globular sides. Conical shoulder __with bulging sides. Cylindrical neck with constriction at bottom. Rim folded outward, upward and inward. Flat base, slightly indented. No pontil mark.
Condition: Intact.
Remarks: These small, typical formed perfume bottles have been made in glass of many different colours, for example in bluish-green, grayisch-green, cobaltblue, purple, amber and colourless glass.
The basic colour of Roman glass is bluish-green. This has been caused because sand (the main element for making raw glass) has been polluted by iron oxide. By addition of some percents manganese oxide in the raw glass the colour changed into purple / aubergine.
Provenance: 2006 Jürgen Haering Galerie am Museum, Freiburg (Germany).
Reference: De Constable-Maxwell Collection of Ancient Glass – The Property of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Constable-Maxwell (Sotheby, Parke Bernet, 1979), no. 87; Ancient Glass – The Bomford Collection of Pre-Roman & Roman Glass on loan to the City of Bristol Museum & Art Gallery (N. Thomas, 1976), no. 55; Glas der Antike – Kestner-Museum Hannover (U. Liepmann, 1982), no. 63; Roman Glass in The Corning Museum of Glass – Vol. I (D. Whitehouse, 1997), no. 248; The Fascinating of Ancient Glass – Dolf Schut Collection (M. Newby & D. Schut, 1999), no. 61; A collection of Ancient Glass 500 BC – 500 AD (P. Arts, 2000), no. 28; Vetri Antichi del Museo Archeologico di Udine (M. Buora, 2004), no. 33; Les Verres Antiques du Musée du Louvre II (V. Arveiller-Dulong & M-D. Nenna, 2005), no. 838; Vetri Antichi del Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Aquileia – Balsamari, olle e pissidi (L. Mandruzzato & A. Marcante, 2007), no. 224.