Goblet thumbnail 1
Goblet thumbnail 2
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Glass, Room 131

Goblet

17th century (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The glassmakers of the Venetian island of Murano excelled in making thinly blown and elegantly shaped objects in the finest colourless glass. They were renowned for their skills as well as their fanciful designs. The bowl of this glass was made in the 'ice-glass' technique. This involved plunging a hot glass bubble into a bucket of cold water, causing cracks to form on its surface. These cracks would be visually enlarged by reheating and repeating the process and by further expanding the bubble by blowing. Inside, attached to the bottom of the bowl, is a hollow egg-shaped piece of blue glass, which colours the contents when the glass is full.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Ice glass, with applied blue glass decoration
Brief description
Goblet, blown ice-glass, probably Italy (Venice), 1600-1700
Dimensions
  • Height: 19.0cm
  • Maximum width: 9.5cm
conversion size only
Style
Credit line
W. H. Cope Bequest
Production
Cf. piece with identical shape but not in ice-glass in Boston, Museum of Fine Arts (Coburg cat.1994, Abb. 64, p. 293)
Summary
The glassmakers of the Venetian island of Murano excelled in making thinly blown and elegantly shaped objects in the finest colourless glass. They were renowned for their skills as well as their fanciful designs. The bowl of this glass was made in the 'ice-glass' technique. This involved plunging a hot glass bubble into a bucket of cold water, causing cracks to form on its surface. These cracks would be visually enlarged by reheating and repeating the process and by further expanding the bubble by blowing. Inside, attached to the bottom of the bowl, is a hollow egg-shaped piece of blue glass, which colours the contents when the glass is full.
Other number
8421 - Glass gallery number
Collection
Accession number
566-1903

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Record createdDecember 13, 1997
Record URL
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