Footed Bowl (Coppa)

Fine narrow ribs set in the foot of the vessel, wider bands of gadrooning in the bowl, and an unusually large ribbed knop decorate this unusually grand footed bowl. A broad band of repeating leafy patterns in gold leaf and enamel ornaments the rim of this Venetian bowl. The decoration's elaborateness and its good condition signal that the bowl was probably used only for display.

Venice's location and seafaring power made it an important trading post between Europe and the eastern Mediterranean, increasing the city's wealth and providing direct contact with Eastern cultures. Syrian glassmakers specialized in the technique of enameling on glass, a process in which an oily mixture of finely powdered glass colored with metallic oxides was brushed onto an object's surface and carefully heated in a furnace. Soon after Syrian glass reached Venice in the 1300s, Venetian glassmakers began copying its decorative techniques.