Light blue hollow ware glass with fleur de lis design

Notes

This small fragment of glass is a part of a French perfume bottle and offers an intriguing story of international trade networks. Despite the slightly golden appearance caused by weathering effects, the color of this fragment was originally a dark blue, achieved by adding cobalt to molten glass. The glass was blown into a two part bottle mold, which not only formed the flask shape of the bottle but also the raised relief decorative elements. In more complete form, these decorations formed a series of three fleur-de-lys which were surmounted by a crown on one side of the bottle.

This decoration, combined with the recovery of this object from an archaeological context from the third quarter of the eighteenth century, indicates it was a bottle made in Orleans, France in a glasshouse founded by Bernard Perrot which operated between 1662 and 1754.

Similar bottles have been identified as containers for perfumes or snuff, both of which could be partaken of by either sex in the later eighteenth century. Washington’s 1772 order of “1 Oz. of Amber Grease for perfumes” from London merchant Robert Cary suggests perfumes were potentially made within the household at Mount Vernon; if so, it may have been one or more of the enslaved individuals that resided in the House for Families who helped carry out this work.

Object Type

Glass

Has it Been Conserved?

No

Where Was It Found?

Project Site: House for Families    [more details]