In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Venice and Murano Glass and Mosaic Co. Ltd (Salviati & Co.) specialised in the production of handmade glass in the ‘traditional Venetian style’. In fact, they adopted certain aspects of historical Venetian glass design and combined these to create new elaborate and fanciful shapes that have little in common with the original glasses that inspired them. Their products were particularly popular in Britain, where the public adored anything Venetian.

This goblet combines a late 16th-century shape with a style of decoration that is more typical of the period around 1500. The gilding, however, is crudely painted. In Renaissance Venice, real gold leaf was applied to glass using gum arabic as an adhesive. Decorative detail could then be scratched through the gold before the decoration was fired.