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Vase with Dolphins and Flowers
From the collection of Smithsonian American Art Museum. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
This tall vase showcases many glassmaking techniques and decorative features admired by American tourists in the late nineteenth century. Its trumpetlike form suggests the action of glassblowing, with the artist's breath extending molten material into an elegant, fluted cone. A trio of dolphins and chrysanthemums rings the stem, each meticulously constructed, attached, and shaped over an open flame. Flowers and sea creatures were favorite decorative elements in Venetian glassware of the seventeenth century, when the island city reigned as Queen of the Adriatic with a strong navy and trading empire.
Smithsonian American Art Museum’s own descriptionSubjects
Credit lineVase with Dolphins and Flowers. ca. 1880s-1890s. Compagnia di Venezia e Murano (CVM), active 1877-1919. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of John Gellatly. CC0.
