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Flask

Flask

  • Place of origin:

    Venice, Italy (made)

  • Date:

    1500 - 1550 (made)

  • Materials and Techniques:

    blown glass, enamelled

  • Museum number:

    1851-1855

  • Gallery location:

    In Storage

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Venetian enamelled and gilt glass was a luxury product exported all over Italy and beyond. The glassmakers of Venice had an excellent and wide spread reputation for high-quality colourless glass and fine workmanship in gilding and enamelling.
Account books and inventories of the time sometimes mention small numbers of 'worked' or 'gilded' glass and often this is stated to have come from Venice or Murano, the Venetian island on which the glass industry was concentrated. The value of such items was often many times as great as that of ordinary glasses and bottles which were used in much greater quantities.
The shape of this sprinkler is derived from silver objects more commonly found in the Middle East, where they were widely used to sprinkle scented water. Some metal sprinklers were made in the Middle East especially for the Italian market, which indicates that this practice must have spread to the West. Our sprinkler was made in Venice and its unidentified European coat of arms, suggests which indicates that it was made as a special commission for an important patron.

Physical description

Glass sprinkler bottle with long and very narrow neck, enamelled with two coats of arms.

Place of Origin

Venice, Italy (made)

Date

1500 - 1550 (made)

Materials and Techniques

blown glass, enamelled

Marks and inscriptions

Canting arms of Hirschvogel family of Nuremberg.
Canting arms of Holzel family of Nuremberg.

Dimensions

Height: 22.5 cm, Diameter: 10.5 cm greatest width, Weight: 0.2 kg

Historical context note

Venetian enamelled and gilt glass was a luxury product exported all over Italy and beyond. The glassmakers of Venice had an excellent and wide spread reputation for high-quality colourless glass and fine workmanship in gilding and enamelling.
Account books and inventories of the time sometimes mention small numbers of 'worked' or 'gilded' glass and often this is stated to have come from Venice or Murano, the Venetian island on which the glass industry was concentrated. The value of such items was often many times as great as that of ordinary glasses and bottles which were used in much greater quantities.
The shape of this sprinkler is derived from silver objects more commonly found in the Middle East, where they were widely used to sprinkle scented water. Some metal sprinklers were made in the Middle East especially for the Italian market, which indicates that this practice must have spread to the West. Our sprinkler, however, was made in Venice.

Descriptive line

Flask, glass with enamelled decoration, Italy (Venice) 1500-1550

Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)

Compare form with Hugh Tait, The Golden Age of Venetian Glass (London, 1979), No.84
Shows a similarly shaped Venetian sprinkler made in filigree glass.
Axel von Saldern, German Enameled Glass: The Edwin J. Beinecke Collection and Related Pieces (New York: Corning Museum, 1965), p.36 and fig.13
Shows glass beaker with the same coats of arms.

Exhibition History

Venetian Glass from the 15th Century to the Present (Musée Maillol 13/03/2013-15/07/2013)

Collection code

CER

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Qr_O458
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