Drawing Tuesday - Glass gallery, V&A

First stop, a Venetian-style goblet with twisted and tooled stem with incorporated white and red threads, applied and tooled decoration. Netherlands, 17th century -

After that warm-up, another of the same, the applied and tooled decoration being opaque white glass this time -

What next caught my eye was this rather 1920s-looking object - "wine glass, possibly Catalonia, probably 18th century" - showing the influence, again, of Venetian glass making

 

The feet ... hmm ...

We weren't the only ones drawing in the gallery - along came a group of college age, or possibly sixth-formers -

Back to facon de venise for me, with a filigree glass (canework) goblet probably made in southern Germany 1550-1625. Many Venetian glassmakers left Murano, lured by the promise of greater freedoms and emerging markets elsewhere. (A similar goblet featured in a 2013 exhibition at the Courtauld.)

I love the "bobbles" at the bottom - how interesting to hold this glass, seemingly smooth from a distance, the twisted insertions (vetro a retorti) catching the eye, both in the cup and then gathered for the "knob" and spreading again in the foot. Once the twisted canes had been joined, it would have been blown into a mould to form the bobbles.

The label mentioned "diamond engraved" and an inscription 1600-1650 - sure enough, peering closely through the glass you can see that two lines of writing had been fitted into each of three clear sections.

What were the others drawing?

Chihuly (less daunting than the chandelier!)

... as seen by Janet B

Contemporary glass, with a wonderful shadow

... as seen by Sue  (Tali Dalton's "Under my wing")

Glass from Scandinavia

Janet K's rendition of Markku Salo's "Journey to Troy"

Next week (21 July) we'll be in the Reading Room of the Wellcome Collection, Euston Road. Here's an idea of what to expect -