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Dish
Unknown - Enlarge image
Dish
- Place of origin:
Venice, Italy (made)
- Date:
1475-1525 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Unknown (production)
- Materials and Techniques:
Mould-blown glass, enamelled and gilt
- Credit Line:
George Salting Bequest
- Museum number:
C.2478-1910
- Gallery location:
In Storage
Shallow dishes on a low foot, made of glass or metalwork were designed to serve food at the dining table. This fine glass example was made in Venice by the famous glass-blowers on the island of Murano. They gave this piece a relief pattern by blowing the glass bubble in a mould, prior to further expanding it and opening it out to become a dish. The decoration in gold leaf and painted enamels was applied after the bowl had been shaped and gradually cooled. After decorating, the bowl went back into the mouth of the furnace, where the enamels would melt and fuse with the glass surface. Once fired, the enamels could not be rubbed off the surface. The moulded pattern and the predominant use of gilding give this dish the appearance of precious metalwork. This dish originally had a foot; at some date it was broken, and consequently ground away.
