Purely decorative bell jars were commonly used in the Victorian period to display and serve as transparent dust covers and display cases for a wide variety of items, including clocks, taxidermy, shells, and wax flowers and fruit.
Decorative bell jars were made of thin glass, with more care being taken regarding their optical clarity, and they did not have a thickened base flange.
For this reason, they are not suitable for vacuum use and would usually fail if pumped down.

Similar glass domes were used as cheese domes or garden cloches.
Purely decorative bell jars were commonly used in the Victorian period to display and serve as transparent dust covers and display cases for a wide variety of items, including clocks, taxidermy, shells, and wax flowers and fruit. Decorative bell jars were made of thin glass, with more care being taken regarding their optical clarity, and they did not have a thickened base flange. For this reason, they are not suitable for vacuum use and would usually fail if pumped down. 
Similar glass domes were used as cheese domes or garden cloches.
Bell jar