Venetian goblet
A glass so thin and clear that it was called cristallo – the pride of Murano in the Renaissance.
In the 1290s Venice’s glassblowers were moved out to the island of Murano. In the 15th century they developed cristallo, an almost colourless glass, and their goblets were sought after all over Europe.
Venetian glassblowers were lured to other countries, although leaving the republic was forbidden. Glass in their style, façon de Venise, was therefore also made in Antwerp, London and Stockholm.
Materials: Soda glass (cristallo), sometimes enamelled or gilded
Manufacture: Mouth-blown and shaped at the furnace by glassblowers on Murano; the wings are pulled from hot glass with tongs.
Very thin glass with a faint grey or yellow tint.
A stem with wings, knops or serpentine loops of drawn threads.
A rough pontil mark under the foot, where the glass was held on the blower’s iron.