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Vase

ca. 1580
Barcelona
Clear, colorless glass with enamel and gilt
H. 23.5 cm

The sixteenth century in Catalonia represents the apex of the art of glass making in Spain. Working in the Venetian style that dominated throughout Europe, the craftsmen of Barcelona imposed a distinctive sensibility on their work. Most noticeably, they continued to decorate their wares with enamel long after Venetian glass-blowers had ceased to employ such ornamentation. This vase presents an exceptional example of Catalan craftsmanship at its best. Applied against clear glass, the enamel stands in sparkling relief, covering virtually the entire surface in a manner that recalls Islamic ornamentation. The shape, too, a pilgrim flask with a flared collar, is essentially Syrian and evokes Spain's ties to the Islamic world. Amid the dense depletion of cypress trees and foliage stand a man and a woman dressed in Spanish Court fashion of ca. 1580, portrayed in absolutely flat two-dimension. As exceptional as it is for its beauty, this vase is equally remarkable for its rarity, as only a handful of glass objects from sixteenth-century Barcelona survive.