yes, you're quite right of course about the lid being pressed (two part mould I believe) - and I didn't comment on the lid, as I was convinced the two parts were un-related, and it was the bowl only that warranted interest (being a lot older than the lid - I'm sure). It may well have been a butter dish with a metal lid as you suggest, and the French I believe made some of the best opaline. Believe I'm correct in suggesting that the bowl would have been mould blown - then re-attached at the foot by a pontil rod in order to cut/fire polish the rim - and finally snapped from the pontil rod so that the pontil 'mark' can be ground/polished. I had wondered initially if the bowl might have been C19 - but I suspect not.