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Tazza
Unknown - Enlarge image
Tazza
- Place of origin:
Venice, Italy (probably, made)
- Date:
1550-1650 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Unknown (production)
- Materials and Techniques:
Filigree glass
- Museum number:
242-1853
- Gallery location:
Glass, room 131, case 71, shelf 5
This type of shallow dish on a foot is called a tazza. It was in the first place a drinking glass for red wine, but it was also used for serving 'sweetmeats'. These were the different sorts of sugared and spiced fruits, conserves, biscuits and other confectionery that made up the final 'sweet' course of a banquet. This example is made of colourless glass, into which the glass-maker 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.
