Bottle thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Europe 1600-1815, Room 5, The Friends of the V&A Gallery

Bottle

1650-1725 (made)
Place of origin

This unusual wheel-shaped scent bottle was probably made in Venice in the late 1600s or early 1700s. It has applied trailing and pincered decoration in clear and yellow glass radiating from the centre. While glassmakers in France and the Netherlands were adept at copying Venetian ornamental glass techniques by this period, this type of decoration in yellow is found on a number of glasses linked to production in Venice at around this time. A similar bottle is depicted in a painting signed and dated 1670 by Caspar Netscher, an artist who worked in The Hague. (It was exhibited by Johnny Van Haeften at the Grosvenor House Art & Antiques Fair 1998, cat. p. 230.) An elegant lady attended by an African page boy, sits at a table next to a large bowl of fruit with the glass scent bottle clearly visible nearby.


Object details

Object type
Materials and techniques
Raised bands of glass decorated with yellow enamel
Brief description
Scent bottle, probably Italy (Venice), 1650-1725
Dimensions
  • Height: 98mm
  • Width: 98mm
  • Depth: 62mm
conversion size only
Styles
Production
A similar bottle is depicted in a painting by Caspar Netscher (worked in The Hague), signed and dated 1670. It was shown by Johhny Van Haeften at the Grosvenor House Art & Antiques Fair 1998, cat. p. 230 (see object info file).
The painting shows an elegant and elaborately dressed woman wearing pearls, with her black boy-servant. On the table a perfume bottle of similar shape.
Summary
This unusual wheel-shaped scent bottle was probably made in Venice in the late 1600s or early 1700s. It has applied trailing and pincered decoration in clear and yellow glass radiating from the centre. While glassmakers in France and the Netherlands were adept at copying Venetian ornamental glass techniques by this period, this type of decoration in yellow is found on a number of glasses linked to production in Venice at around this time. A similar bottle is depicted in a painting signed and dated 1670 by Caspar Netscher, an artist who worked in The Hague. (It was exhibited by Johnny Van Haeften at the Grosvenor House Art & Antiques Fair 1998, cat. p. 230.) An elegant lady attended by an African page boy, sits at a table next to a large bowl of fruit with the glass scent bottle clearly visible nearby.
Bibliographic references
  • See attribution note field and object info file.
  • P.C. Ritsema van Eck, Glass in the Rijksmuseum Vol. I, Zwolle 1993, cat. 154
Other number
6579 - Glass gallery number
Collection
Accession number
1273-1872

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Record createdDecember 13, 1997
Record URL
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