Ca. 200 AD. Roman. A beautiful unguentarium with a small bulbous body, a long tapering neck, and an annular rim. The most striking aspect of this unguentarium is the shimmering rainbow iridescence throughout the exterior surface. Excellent condition. Unguentaria, like alabastra in ancient Greece, were small jars used to store perfume or toilet oil in the Roman period. This type of unguentarium was dubbed by early archaeologists in in the 19th century as a 'tear catcher' or 'lachrymatory' because it was believed to be a vessel used by mourners in funerary ceremonies to catch tears, but this myth has been debunked by modern chemical analysis, which revealed that these bottled in fact contained perfume or oils. To find out more about glass objects in the Roman world, Bayley, J., Freestone, I., & Jackson, C. (2015). Glass of the Roman World. Oxford And Philadelphia: Oxbow Books. Size: L:140mm / W:25mm ; 21g. Provenance: From an important London collection of S.A.; previously in a Central London, Mayfair gallery; originally obtained from an old British collection formed in the 1990s.