An Englishman traveling in Italy in the 17th century observed that “for the Italians that love to drink leisurely, they have glasses that are almost as large and flat as silver plates, and almost as uneasie to drink out of. . . .” The tazza, a most sophisticated glass for the drinking of red wine, allows maximum contact between the wine and oxygen in the air. Such glasses, which required a steady hand, are often seen in Italian pictures of the 16th and early 17th centuries. The lion-mask stem of this glass was blown in a two-part mold. It shows two lions’ heads in full face, separated by shields. Composite stems were a staple in the repertory of 16th-century Venetian glassmakers.