Perfume bottles

These perfume bottles are among the earliest examples of mould-blown glassware. They probably originate from the eastern region of the Mediterranean Sea, which is where this technique of mould-blowing was invented. Bottles of this kind are also known as 'Sidonian’, after the great port of Sidon. These were blown in a two-piece mould. They are decorated with a little row of tongue-shaped elements on the shoulder and foot, with vines spiralling in between. The yellow colour was obtained by the addition of silver, the purple from adding nickel.