Tear Bottles

[Cavalry Charger]

Ashley, do you mean @Northern Light ? You have quoted her post

I'm excited to see what it might be either way

 

[AshleyMel]

December 25, 1947
From my darling Freddie

 

[AshleyMel]

Ashley, do you mean @Northern Light ? You have quoted her post

Oh yes! Sorry! My fingers hit CC when I meant to type NL! Guess I was thinking about you too!
@Northern Light is this what your mother had? I'm so excited! It is just wonderful! One of my few things from my Nanny!

 

[Cavalry Charger]

Looks like what @Northern Light might have been talking about...how precious, and I think the lid says 'Evening in Paris'. Very romantic

 

[Cavalry Charger]

Guess I was thinking about you too!

Appreciate the thought

 

[Northern Light]

View attachment 174178 View attachment 174179
December 25, 1947
From my darling Freddie

That is very similar. Thanks for that, Ashley!

 

[AshleyMel]

Looks like what @Northern Light might have been talking about...how precious, and I think the lid says 'Evening in Paris'. Very romantic

YES! Best pic I could get with that darn tablet thingie and my excitement!
Also in the box was a hankie folded up and the Christmas tag. It said To: MYRT From: FRED, in my Papa's block handwritting. Nanny obviously cherished it!

 

[AshleyMel]

That is very similar. Thanks for that, Ashley!

Now I'm off to Ebay to look for more!

 

[Northern Light]

This is the one I remember sitting on her dressing table. Oh what memories this has brought back!
.

 

[AshleyMel]

This is the one I remember sitting on her dressing table. Oh what memories this has brought back!

SO beautiful! It does look similar to the tear bottle!
I love the cobalt blue glass!
How lovely we get to share these memories!

 

[Northern Light]

I found this:

Unfortunately no reference.

 

[Northern Light]

Oh course there always has to be someone who wants to spoil all the fun! This site claims that the tear catchers are not really for tears at all.
www.atlasobscura.com/articles/tearcatchers-victorian-myth-bottle

 

[LoriAnn]

Oh course there always has to be someone who wants to spoil all the fun! This site claims that the tear catchers are not really for tears at all.
www.atlasobscura.com/articles/tearcatchers-victorian-myth-bottle

I'm a little relieved actually.

 

[Eleanor Rose]

The Victorian era is known for its fascination with death so I'm not so quick to write off the notion of tear bottles. Popular references to tear bottles or lachrymatory were apparently common during the period.

In January of 1896, The Atlantic Monthly published a poem by Frank Dempster Sherman (1860-1916) called "A Tear Bottle." The author references the tears of a Greek girl -- which supports the belief that the tear bottle may have originated in ancient Greek culture.

A Tear Bottle

Glass, wherein a Greek girl's tears
Once were gathered as they fell.
After these two thousand years
Is there still no tale to tell?

Buried with her, in her mound
She is dust long since, but you
Only yesterday were found
Iridescent as the dew, —

Fashioned faultlessly, a form
Graceful as was hers whose cheek
Once against you made you warm
While you heard her sorrow speak.

At your lips I listen long
For some whispered word of her,
For some ghostly strain of song
In your haunted heart to stir.

But your crystal lips are dumb,
Hushed the music in your heart:
Ah, if she could only come
Back again and bid it start!

Long is Art, but Life so brief!
And the end seems so unjust:
This companion of her grief
Here to-day, while she is dust!

- Frank Dempster Sherman

​

Source: The Atlantic Monthly: A Magazine of Literature, Science, Art, and Politics. Vol LXXVII – January, 1896 – No. CCCCLIX, pages 186-187.

 

[Eleanor Rose]

Archaeology became increasingly popular during the Victorian era. The July edition of Harper's New Monthly Magazine in 1872 included an article entitled, "The Explorations of Di Cesnola in Cyprus", by Hiram Hitchcock. The article outlines his recent excavation and mentions the discovery of "a white lachrymatory with very delicate incrustation; and a curious one with a long neck." The Cornell Library collection contains an original manuscript of the article.

 

[1950lemans]

In the 1980s I was offered Roman tear bottles - beautiful iridescent colors. First time I ever heard about capturing mourning tears.

 

[AshleyMel]

The Victorian era is known for its fascination with death so I'm not so quick to write off the notion of tear bottles. Popular references to tear bottles or lachrymatory were apparently common during the period.

I was just getting ready to post as well! I had to get to my sewing class earlier but knew that there had to be more to these vials!

"Thou tellest my wanderings, put thou my tears in Thy bottle, are they not in Thy book?" ~Psalms 56:8). David prayed to God.

http://egyptianmuseumscribe.blogspot.com/2008/11/tear-bottles.html

The story of tear bottles continued unabated. During Victorian Era funerals, lachrymatory were distributed for guests to catch their tears in. The bottles held special stoppers, and it is said that when the tears evaporated, the period of mourning was complete. Stories have also been found of soldiers during the U.S. Civil War leaving their wives with tear bottles as they departed for battle. It was hoped that the bottle would be full upon their return, to show their wives love and devotion.

Weather they actually held tears, medicine or perfumes...I"ll let the experts debate that one, but Nanny sure did catch a few of mine!

 

[Eleanor Rose]

​

Dan Gerhertz has done a beautiful painting, entitled "The Tear Bottle." In this piece, "a seated woman leans over an elegant lavender-colored glass bottle, allowing her tears to fall silently into the lachrymatory."


Source: TheLachrymatory.com


I guess the only way to know for sure how the bottles were used would be to test the residue in historic bottles to determine if they were used for tears or fragrances. This will probably happen eventually.

 

[Eleanor Rose]

For you @AshleyMel...

Pinterest​

 

[Mrs. V]

Pinterest​

The tear bottle tradition has endured for more than 3,000 years. Tear bottles, or lachrymatory (taken from the word 'lachrymose', which means "given easily to tears or to crying; mournful"), were common in ancient middle Eastern societies. Even today they are still produced in that region. Per Wikipedia, "A tear catcher, also called a Tear Bottle, is typically an ornamental vase piece, made from blown glass and dyed appropriately to the creator's taste. There is an attached glass fixture at the opening of the stem that is formed to your eye."

Tear bottles were prevalent in ancient Roman times, when mourners filled small glass vials or cups with tears and placed them in burial tombs as symbols of love and respect. Sometimes women were even paid to cry into "cups", as they walked along the mourning procession. Those crying the loudest and producing the most tears received the most compensation, or so the legend goes. The more anguish and tears produced, the more important and valued the deceased person was perceived to be. Tear bottles reappeared during the Victorian period of the 19th century, when those mourning the loss of loved ones would collect their tears in bottles ornately decorated with silver and pewter. Special stoppers allowed the tears to evaporate. When the tears were gone, the mourning period would end.

According to the website, Facets of History, the tear bottle was commonly used in America from the 1720's until shortly after the Civil War. They can be found in several historical museums in the United States. Used in both the North and the South, "this was a custom that the highest level of social status participated in upon the death of a husband or child. The wife (or Mother – if a child died) would with her close women friends, hold a memorial service on the day of the death, but before the Sun set on the day of their death. A friend or sister would formally present the Wife with a glass bottle, and then during the memorial service she would weep into the bottle. At the end of the service they would seal around the glass stopper with bee's wax or paraffin. The woman would save the bottle to remember the loss of her husband or child. The tradition was taken from the Bible in the book of Psalms. This bottle was also called a weeping bottle or tear vial. This bottle was saved by the woman for a year. It was a tradition to empty the tears from the bottle onto the grave on the first anniversary of the death of the loved one."

1870 Victorian Tear Bottle (Pinterest)

Silver Victorian Tear Bottle (Pinterest)​

You can find numerous examples of tear bottles around the Internet. Personally, I can appreciate using the tear catcher as a timekeeper of sorts for mourning. I agree with our Victorians friends that mourning and grief should be given its own period of time with the mourner given proper space to acknowledge and eventually accept the loss and change in their life. Perhaps when the tears vanish from the tear bottle, it signifies that life moves on while the memories and love remain.

Do you like the idea of a tear catcher or do you think it is another example of Victorian era mourning gone to the extreme?

I have heard of these before, mostly referenced in novels. I do like the idea of pouring out the tears on the grave. A cleansing so to speak.