One of Twenty-Three Sheets of Drawings of Glassware (Mirrors, Chandeliers, Goblets, etc.) 1850 - 1880

This sheet of glassware drawings was made in Venice by the Compagnia di Venezia e Murano, sometime between 1872 and 1909. The image is composed of watercolor and graphite on paper. While seemingly simple, it documents a complex industrial and artistic process, the making of Venetian glass. Consider the qualities of glass itself: its capacity to be heated and blown, stretched and shaped, and how this informs the forms seen in the drawing. Notice the varying shapes of drinking glasses, vases, and pitchers. Each of these would have been fashioned by skilled glassblowers, using techniques passed down through generations. The drawings also represent a form of labor. They served as a catalog or inventory, documenting the range of products available from the Compagnia. Each object is meticulously rendered, complete with a price. In this way, the image provides insight into the commercial operations of Venetian glassmaking. So what we have here is not simply a record of beautiful objects, but of production, consumption, and the skilled labor that made it all possible.