Elegant in shape and all too delicate in construction, this perfume bottle (unguentarium) shows boudoir scenes executed in cameo glass – the exceptionally fancy technique thought to date to the Augustan period.
Here the festoons, bedding, and two amorous pairs of different flavours (the homoerotic one is shown here) are crisply carved into a milky white layer over a translucent deep blue ground. And the elongated shape with lofty neck and tapering foot (alas, the sleek profile annoyingly obscured by a plexiglass mount) is a particularly beautiful example of unguent bottles known from across the Roman Empire, here miniaturized to 14 cm to hold precious and perhaps perfumed oils.
The vase was acquired by George Ortiz, the now deceased collector who was as much known for his eccentricities as his eye for beauty and voracious collecting habits. Much of his collection is published in the catalogue “In Pursuit of the Absolute” – and that grandiose somewhat opaque title, I think, goes a long way in explaining how Ortiz’s considered his relationship with ancient art.
