Bottle
late 17th century (made), 1675-1750 (made)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
Glass is an ideal material to imitate semi-precious stones, and the ancient Romans were specialists at this. 'Calcedonia' glass was developed on the Venetian island of Murano around 1450. It was called after chalcedony, a naturally occurring hardstone. Details concerning its manufacture were kept secret for many decades. It involves mixing many different colours of glass in layers as well as a special heat treatment during blowing. This bottle is a later example from the late 17th century. An innovation of that period was the inclusion of gold-coloured spots in various sizes. These were created by adding copper powder to the molten glass. As their final appearance was very much dependant on chance or accident (avventura in Italian), glass with such inclusions was called 'aventurine'.
Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Materials and techniques | Mould-blown calcedonio glass, aventurine, with gilt copper mounts |
Brief description | Bottle, blown calcedonio glass with metallic inclusions, Italy (Venice), 1600-1700 |
Physical description | Mount: gilt copper - said by T. North to be late 17th century Italian original Tony North 16-12-1992: mount 18th century, top early 19th century, could be Italy or Bohemia. |
Dimensions |
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Style | |
Credit line | Wilfred Buckley Collection |
Object history | Acquired by Buckley at Christie's (Cook sale), from Harding, July 13th 1925 for £ 12.2.6 Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 7-10 July 1925, Cook sale catalogue, p. 88, lot 462 'The property of Humphrey W. Cook, Esq., being a portion of the Celebrated Collection fromed by Sir Francis Cook, Bart. |
Summary | Glass is an ideal material to imitate semi-precious stones, and the ancient Romans were specialists at this. 'Calcedonia' glass was developed on the Venetian island of Murano around 1450. It was called after chalcedony, a naturally occurring hardstone. Details concerning its manufacture were kept secret for many decades. It involves mixing many different colours of glass in layers as well as a special heat treatment during blowing. This bottle is a later example from the late 17th century. An innovation of that period was the inclusion of gold-coloured spots in various sizes. These were created by adding copper powder to the molten glass. As their final appearance was very much dependant on chance or accident (avventura in Italian), glass with such inclusions was called 'aventurine'. |
Bibliographic reference | See Berlin Cat.No.29 for similar example |
Other number | 8448 - Glass gallery number |
Collection | |
Accession number | C.207-1936 |
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Record created | December 13, 1997 |
Record URL |
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