Lacrimae Rerum I

Made in plaster casts from porcelain slip, these lachrymatory bottles are hung in a cluster by a hemp cord.
Each bottle has been burnished with a pebble, bisque fired then smoke fired with seaweed. The salts and minerals found in seaweed create the flashes of colour which make the bottles look like natural stones which have been polished by the motion of the sea.

Lachrymatories were used by the Ancient Romans, Greeks and Egyptians to collect the tears of mourners before being placed in the sarcophagus. They were first discovered during by tomb excavators during the 19th Century, the practice was then adopted by the Victorians.

Porcelain, hemp cord. Dimensions: L 90cm W 36cm Weight 4kg