Beaker with lid of filigree glass

Façon de Venise translates literally as 'in the manner of Venice'. Venetian glass-blowers rose to great fame in the 16th century, for they were the only craftsmen who could produce colourless glass of exquisite delicacy of structure and form. When Venetian glass-blowers set up workshops in Germany, France, England and Holland, their technique was imitated in those countries. These non-Italian products are of such high quality that it is often hard to distinguish glass á la façon de Venise from the genuine article. Covered jar, filigree glass Netherlands, façon de Venise, c. 1650-1700 A.J. Enschedé bequest, 1896.