The balsamarium is a variant of the typical Roman glass unguentarium. Produced in large numbers, they were items of every day use for holding and storing perfumed oils, as well as other expensive liquids and powders. The small body and mouth allowed the user carefully to pour and control the amount of liquid dispensed. By the 1st century AD, the technique of glass-blowing had revolutionised the art of glass-making, allowing for the production of small medicine, incense, and perfume containers in new forms. Glass was often the preferred material for storing oils because it was not porous. These small glass bottles are found frequently at Hellenistic and Roman sites, especially in cemeteries, and the perfumes which filled them would have been gathered from all corners of the expansive Roman Empire.
Trail decoration is an embellishment technique which was a popular feature of Roman glass artefacts, and was composed of a strand of glass applied to a vessel or object. Narrow trails of coloured glass were applied in zig-zag or festoon patterns to vessels; trails of varying thickness were frequently added as rims, handles, or base rings. Trails were also used as surface decoration, usually in a spiralling pattern around the vessel which was either raised or made from a different colour of glass.
To find out more about Roman glass please see our relevant blog post:Ancient Glass and Collecting Roman Glass
