Tazza-Drinking Vessel
CultureVenetian
Datelate 16th century-early 17th century
MediumBlown glass
Dimensions3 15/16 × 7 1/16 in. (10 × 17.9 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase with the assistance of Mr. and Mrs. John S. Shannon
Object number94.34
Collections
On View
Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 116-2, Case 6
Label TextTazza-Drinking Vessel Venetian, late 16th - early 17th century Blown glass with opaque white filigree arranged a retorti Museum Purchase with the assistance of Mr. and Mrs. John S. Shannon 94.34 With its beautifully controlled spiral filigree pattern of solid stripes alternating with lacework stripes, this Venetian tazza is a masterpiece. The dazzling glass technique - filigree, or filigrana, as it is known in Italian - was introduced in Venice in the second quarter of the 16th century, and soon became the rage in Europe. Opaque white and occasionally colored canes were laid down side-by-side on a flat surface in the desired pattern and were then picked up by rolling a colorless bubble of hot glass across them. Twisting the glass resulted in a spiral pattern. By the late 16th century, Venetian filigree was widely imitated north of the Alps in façon-de-venise and has continued in use. Although this tazza looks like a small compote to modern eyes, its size and shape suggest that it was intended as a drinking vessel. A famous painting of Bacchus, ca. 1595, by Caravaggio (now in the Uffizi, Florence) shows that deity holding a colorless glass of similar form that is filled with red wine. Edited By: GLYExhibition History"Treasures for the Community: The Chrysler Collects, 1989-1996," October 25, 1996 - February 16, 1997 Published References_English Continental Ceramics and Glass_ (London: Sotheby's, November 15, 1994), Lot 444, ill. Jeff Harrison, _Collecting with Vision: Treasures From the Chrysler Museum of Art_ (London: D. Giles Ltd., 2007), 125, fig. 151. ISBN: 978-0-940744-72-1 Diane C. Wright (editor), _Glass: Masterworks from the Chrysler Museum of Art_ (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2017), pg. 50-51.
mid-16th century
ca. 1950-1960
