Rare Turquoise Blue Opaline Pocket Scent Bottle With Gilt Cage Mount, Napoleon III Period

A circular, flattened pocket perfume bottle in turquoise-blue opaline glass, encased in a substantial cage-like mount of gilded brass (or gilded metal), re-pierced and chiselled with a decoration of rocaille foliage, leafy volutes and facing birds, complete with its small hanging chain and its fluted screw cap. It rests on a (removable) gilded metal display stand.
France. Napoleonic III period
Height: 7 cm
Very good condition
So-called ‘cage’ bottles, or those with an overlay metal frame, were highly sought-after objects of exquisite fancy throughout the 19th century. Designed to be worn on the belt, slipped into a toiletry case or suspended from a chatelaine, they allowed fashionable ladies to carry their perfumed essences or vinegar salts. The juxtaposition of delicately cut and openwork gilded metal against the solid-coloured opaline glass creates a particularly sumptuous visual contrast, highly representative of the decorative eclecticism of the Second Empire.
Our piece follows in the tradition of the charming 19th-century luxury toiletries and portable accessories, bearing witness to the refinement and taste for display pieces of the imperial era.