Italian Glass to 1600
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Glasgow Museums has a collection of 11 items of Italian Renaissance-period glassware that date broadly from 1530 to 1650. This collection comprises decorative and functional drinking glasses, vases, jugs, a bowl and a plate made in Venice on the island of Murano. Various techniques of glass-making of this period are represented in the collection, including the type of clear glass known as 'cristallo', because it resembles transparent rock crystal; ice glass, which is clear glass with a surface texture like cracked ice; 'vetro a retorti' and 'vetro a fili', which is opaque white or coloured canes incorporated into the clear glass body of the vessels; and opaque and marbled coloured glass. Two of the items in the collection are decorated with enamelled motifs while six were purchased from the prestigious Spitzer Collection sale in 1893. The most recent addition to the collection, purchased in 1980, is a fine and rare plate of clear glass with gilded 'lattimo' or milky threads which separate three bands of fine diamond-point engraving. Each decorative band shows different classical motifs such as swags, masks and grotesque-style figures holding cornucopias. The Italian island of Murano became famous for glass-making when the glass makers of Venice were forced to move their foundries there in the late 13th century to protect the city from the threat of fire.
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