121. Roman unguentarium, 1st-2nd century AD
Glass
Height: 13.5cm
11271 IVP
Free-blown transparent near-colourless glass, tall and slender cylindrical neck flaring slightly at the junction with the squat piriform body, with a flattened base. The tubular lip everted, folded over and...
Free-blown transparent near-colourless glass, tall and slender cylindrical neck flaring slightly at the junction with the squat piriform body, with a flattened base. The tubular lip everted, folded over and flattened. A blue and white octagonal collector's label to the base numbered '9' in pencil. Some pitting to the surface and patches of iridescence, intact.
Provenance
Louis-Gabriel Bellon (1819-1899), St. Nicholas-les-Arras, France; collection no. 9Bellon was one of the greatest French collectors of the 19th century. Making his fortune in the textile industry, he began to buy and collect archaeological pieces from the Mediterranean world. Until the end of the 1870s, he accompanied Auguste Ternick in archaeological excavations in the Arras region. It was there that he discovered the Gallo-Roman glassworks which subsequently constituted the most important part of his collection. His collection gained notoriety during the retrospective exhibition of French Art which took place at the Trocadéro in 1896, alongside those of Auguste Dutuit and the Protat printers. Today, part of the collection is kept at the Museum of National Antiquities of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, the Petit Palais in Paris, the Louvre Museum, and the Berck-sur-Mer museum.
