Artwork Page for Marriage Beaker

Details / Information for Marriage Beaker

Marriage Beaker

late 1400s

Italy, Venice

Medium
opaque glass (milk glass or lattimo), enameled
Measurements
Overall: 10.2 x 7.4 cm (4 x 2 15/16 in.)
Credit Line
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1955.70
Public Domain
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Location
118 Italian Renaissance
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Description

By the mid-1400s the word lattimo had come to mean glass made milk-like by the addition of opacifying materials, such as an oxide of tin. It was imitative of Chinese porcelain. Only fourteen surviving pieces of lattimo vessels are recorded. These beakers may have been intended as betrothal or wedding gifts. This one is enameled with idealized portrait heads of a young man and woman. Such portrait heads of young women were also a feature of Italian Maiolica, especially those at Deruta (see "love dishes" in Gallery 219).
This cylindrical beaker of opaque white glass tapers slightly toward a coiled, ruffled base. A central medallion features a profile portrait of a woman with golden hair beside green reeds under a streaked blue sky. Enamel bands of gold, green, and red dots encircle the rim and base, while a meticulous grid of blue and gold dots blankets the body. Small red floral motifs punctuate the area above the scalloped edge.

Marriage Beaker

late 1400s

Italy, Venice

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