Getty Museum

Ewer

Date

late 15th or early 16th century

Medium

Free-blown colorless (slightly purple) glass with gold leaf and enamel decoration

Culture

Italian

Department

Decorative Arts

Institution

Getty Museum

This luxurious ewer, whose shape is copied from earlier metal liturgical vessels, would have held wine or other liquids on a Renaissance dining table. Glassworkers assembled this example from four separate parts: a rounded body with narrow neck, a curved tapered spout, a solid handle, and a hollow foot. An enamelist colored the ewer's body before the spout and handle were attached. Venetian glass of the period typically features "fish-scale" gilding punctuated by blue dots. The wave-like pattern around the neck may represent the sun's rays--the insignia of the followers of Saint Bernard of Siena--or it might have been used here only for decorative effect.

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