Goblet

Unknown

late 15th–early 16th century

Free-blown colorless glass with gold leaf and enamel decoration, Glass

J. Paul Getty Museum

A clear glass goblet is decorated with colorful enamel and gold leaf. The goblet has a flared rim and a pedestal foot. Made of clear glass with minute bubbles throughout, this goblet would probably have been used as a wineglass. A continuous pattern of interlaced tendrils, stylized palmettes, and marguerite daisies in blue, dark red, and white enamel decorates the flared bowl. Few glass vessels are decorated as this one is, with no figures, only painted foliage. A fragment of a similar vessel with comparable intertwined foliage painting was found under the foundations of the bell-tower of San Marco, Venice, after it collapsed in 1902. After some uncertainty, this discovery confirmed that this "Venetian-style" goblet was indeed Venetian. "Acquisition