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Bowl
Unknown - Enlarge image
Bowl
- Place of origin:
Venice, Italy (made)
- Date:
1575-1625 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Unknown (production)
- Materials and Techniques:
Filigree mould-blown glass
- Credit Line:
Transferred from the Museum of Practical Geology, Jermyn Street
- Museum number:
5221-1901
- Gallery location:
Glass, room 131, case 8, shelf 2
Wide bowls were used in Italy in the Renaissance period to serve and display fresh fruit. This glass example was made in Venice by the famous glass-blowers on the island of Murano. They used colourless glass, into which they incorporated opaque white glass 'canes' during the glass-blowing process. Glass-workers prepared the canes in advance by drawing out a blob of molten glass to form a long thread. This thread would cool very quickly, after which the glass-worker could break it into short sections. These were neatly arranged in a mould or on a flat surface, so the glass-maker could pick them up on a bubble of molten colourless glass.
