VMs: Venetian glass...?

[Nick Pelling <incoming@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi everyone,

Just a quick thing: while in the Italian section at the Victoria & Albert 
Museum recently (looking at 15th Century maiolica, naturally <g>), I 
noticed some 15th Century Venetian glass pieces.

The way they were all decorated - small spots of colour, in sequential 
patterns around the curve of the cup, etc - strongly reminded me of the 
three jars on f89r1 (especially the bottom-most one) and those on f89r2.

In fact, the apparent structure of the bottom-most object on f89r1 is quite 
fascinating - to my eyes, it looks like a spherical glass cover (with 
typical Venetian decoration) somehow placed over the top a spherical 
Byzantine hookah.

Perhaps it's some kind of bizarre (and now-lost) Eastern Mediterranean 
alembic or still. However, I don't remember seeing anything remotely like 
it in the museum of pharmacy in Edirne. Very strange. :-O

Cheers, .....Nick Pelling.....