Roman Glass Ampulla Bottle, ex-Bonhams

**First Time At Auction**

Roman, Imperial Period, ca. 1st to 3rd century CE. A beautiful bottle of a wide form, free blown from translucent glass of a soft turquoise hue. The vessel is defined by a slightly concave base with a rough pontil scar, a piriform body with a tapered shoulder, a lightly corseted neckline beneath a cylindrical neck, and a splayed rim with an in-folded lip. Elegant layers of silvery and rainbow-hued iridescence has formed across most exterior surfaces and gracefully complements the vessel's blue-green color. Size: 2.75" W x 4.875" H (7 cm x 12.4 cm)

Provenance: ex-private Davis collection, Houston, Texas, USA; ex-Bonhams, London, Knightsbridge "Antiquities" auction (May 8, 2013, part of lot 171); ex-Joseph Klein collection, New York, New York, USA, formed between 1941 and 1980, thence by descent

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#139120
Condition Report: Minor abrasions to rim, neck, and body, with light encrustations, and micro-bubbling within glass matrix, otherwise intact and very good. Pontil mark on underside of base. A pontil scar or mark indicates that a vessel was free-blown, while the absence of such a mark suggests that the work was either mold-blown or that the mark was intentionally smoothed away or wore away over time. Nice earthen deposits and great iridescence throughout.