Bottle

Italian, Venice (Murano)

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 199

The “chalcedony” glass of thid delicate object mimics the banded, multicolored agate stone of the same name. The technique involves the addition of several metallic oxides into a glass batch that is intentionally left poorly mixed, resulting in streaky veins of color. The perfume bottle has additional splashes of glittering aventurine glass, made from copper crystals that form as the glass cools. Since the crystals can diminish with reheating, aventurine was usually incorporated as small spots dotting the surface of a vessel.

Bottle, Chalcedony and aventurine glass, blown with gilded bronze mount and stopper, Italian, Venice (Murano)

Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Open Access

As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.

API

Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.

Bottle, Chalcedony and aventurine glass, blown with gilded bronze mount and stopper, Italian, Venice (Murano)
Bottle, Chalcedony and aventurine glass, blown with gilded bronze mount and stopper, Italian, Venice (Murano)

This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Scroll left to view more.