Smelling Bottle

Date1865-1885

MediumBlown and cut colorless lead glass; bronze

DimensionsPrimary Dimensions (length x width ): 5 3/8 x 1 1/8in. (13.7 x 2.9cm)

ClassificationsGlassware

Credit LineConnecticut Museum of Culture and History collection

Object number1966.150.0a-b

DescriptionBlown and cut colorless lead glass double smelling bottle with a bronze cap at either end. The smelling bottle (.a) is composed of a cylindrical glass tube with sides cut into ten panels. The tube is divided in half by a glass disc. At both ends, the shoulder is canted, then narrows to accommodate a bronze cap. The more elaborate end is filled with a hard, unknown substance that has condensed into one large lump and lined the walls of the smelling bottle. The contents are held in by a bronze cap, consisting of a short cylindrical portion with a disc at the end that flips up to provide access to the bottle's contents. The disc portion of the cap is engraved with two letters, an "F" superimposed over an "O". A small cylindrical knob on the cylindrical portion of the cap probably activated a mechanism that opens the disc portion of the cap, however, it no longer works. The less elaborate end of the smelling bottle is filled with a hard, unknown substance that has condensed into a handful of small pebbles and a lump that coats the bottom of that end of the bottle. The bronze cap (.b) at this end screws off, and the contents smell sweet. One side of the more elaborate cap is dented in and pierced; there is also a crack in the glass at that end of the bottle. There is slight tarnishing to the bronze.

Status

Not on view