Perfumes have been a very important part of culture and religion since ancient times. Not only were the perfumes valuable but so were the bottles that held them. The oldest known perfume bottles came from the Ancient Egyptians. They used containers made of stone and alabaster which kept the perfume cool and did not leak the precious liquids. Many perfume containers have been found in tombs around the globe. Scents and perfume were an important part of the Egyptians preparation of the dead.
Some glass bottles date back to the fifteenth century BC. The glass perfume bottles adorned the homes of the noble and wealthy. While early scents were designed to ward off bad spirits, grace the gods and disguise body odors, the bottles were a true symbol of luxury. In Greek and Roman times, scent bottle designs became increasingly more sophisticated, even imitating the shapes of birds, humans and other animals.
Perfume bottles found in Palestine were made of glass, and had narrow long necks. They were primarily found in tombs. They believed the perfume bottles would cover the smell of the dead bodies.
The Ancient Greeks made beautiful containers for perfume. They hand painted vases which were often shaped as animals. They used lidded bowls for holding less expensive perfumes.
The Roman’s used hollowed-out precious stones to carry their most valuable perfumes before the introduction of glass bottles.
Glass blowing techniques had been developed in Syria. This was a huge advancement in bottle construction industry. Expensive Roman scent bottles created from transparent glass adorned with coloured decorations were widely acclaimed.
Today the trading of unusual, limited editions and ancient perfume bottles has become big business. Their books and material on how, when to be collecting the perfume bottles, conventions, places to sell and buy the perfume bottles. This usually happens at auctions, exhibitions and collectors markets where dealers and appraisers are presents for evaluations of the precious bottles.
[Source: myperfume.com.au]
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