Getty Museum

Bowl of a Footed Beaker

Date

about 1525–1575

Medium

Free-blown colorless (purplish-brown) glass with gold leaf, enamel, and diamond-point engraved decoration

Culture

Bohemian or Italian

Department

Decorative Arts

Institution

Getty Museum

An unusual combination of Venetian and northern European elements appears in this important piece. Its conical body and pointed prunts give the vessel a northern appearance, but the cobalt-blue band and gilt-and-enamel "fish-scale" pattern around the lip are characteristic of Italian glass from the island of Murano. In 1562, one glassmaker suggested that these prunts or protrusions made the vessels sturdier, "thus they can be held more easily in the hands of drunken and clumsy people." The prunts do not seem to have protected this beaker, as its top-heavy proportions suggest it originally included a foot or stem. Indeed, the object's rough bottom edge suggests that the goblet's original foot broke off. Someone then appears to have tried to save the piece by grinding down the base, making a goblet into a beaker, and thus minimizing the break.

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