A Venetian enamelled opalescent glass bowl, circa 1740

Sotheby’s London, 21 May 1979, lot 186;

Where acquired

In 18th century Murano, the Venetian Miotti family of glassmakers specialised in finely enamelled opaque-white glass. Among surviving pieces attributed to the Miotti glassworks is a pair of beakers, enamelled in this manner with the same bird amongst branches of strawberries, now in the Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, acc. no. 51.3.316, formerly with the dealer Cecil Davis and from the collection of Lady Charlotte Schreiber (1812-1895). The same bird also features on a larger Miotti glass water sprinkler, also at Corning, acc. no. 51.3.315. Bird painting of this type has occasionally been attributed to the enameller Osvaldo Brussa, and a portrait of the glass painter depicted holding a brush to a glass beaker painted with a goldfinch is today retained in the Murano Glass Museum, Murano, inv. no. Class VI no. XXX.