A type of goblet with the stem in the form of vertical, winglike flanges composed of trails arranged in a complex design that may include dragons, sea horses, and other creatures. The German term for a winged goblet is Flügelglas.

A type of goblet with the stem in the form of vertical, winglike flanges composed of trails arranged in a complex design that may include dragons, sea horses, and other creatures. The German term for a winged goblet is Flügelglas.

A strand of glass, roughly circular in section, drawn out from a gather.

A drinking vessel with a bowl that rests on a stemmed foot.

The narrow part of a goblet or tazza that separates the bowl and the foot.

A glass, usually for wine and often of extraordinary shape, designed to be as difficult as possible to drink from without spilling the contents. In drinking competitions, any drinker who spilled wine was required to start again with a full glass.

A type of English ale glass with a trumpet-shaped mouth, a long and narrow neck, and a small globular body. These glasses were often one yard (three feet) long. They contained about one pint and functioned like trick glasses. The yard-of-ale came into use in the 1680s and continued into the 19th century.

A type of English drinking glass for ale or beer. Ale glasses, first made in the 17th century, have a tall and conical cup, a stem, and a foot. They may be enameled, engraved, or gilded with representations of hops or barley.

(Italian) A type of polychrome cane made by assembling a bundle of rods of different colors, and heating it until it is soft. The bundle is then attached to two pontils and elongated by drawing. At the same time, the bundle is twisted to produce a spiral pattern. Zanfirico, which is a synonym for vetro a retorti, takes its name from the Venetian dealer Antonio Sanquirico, who, in the 1830s, encouraged the revival on Murano of this and other traditional techniques.

The pontil, or punty, is a solid metal rod that is usually tipped with a wad of hot glass, then applied to the base of a vessel to hold it during manufacture. It often leaves an irregular or ring-shaped scar on the base when removed. This is called the “pontil mark.”

The process of pulling semimolten glass to elongate it. It is used, for example, in the production of canes.

A thin, monochrome rod, or a composite rod consisting of groups of rods of different colors, which are bundled together and fused to form a polychrome design that is visible when seen in cross section.

A monochrome segment of glass cut from a trail.

(German, “gold between glass”) A type of decoration, produced in Bohemia and Austria in the 18th century, in which a design in gold or silver leaf is incorporated between two vessels that fit together precisely. Unlike Hellenistic and Roman gold glass, which is fused, Zwischengoldglas is bonded with cement.

The term applied to several types of Hellenistic and ancient Roman glass objects decorated with designs cut and/or engraved in gold leaf, which is sandwiched between two fused layers of glass. Hellenistic gold glass was made by sandwiching the decoration between two closely fitting cast, ground, and polished vessels, which were then fused. Many Roman gold glasses apparently were made by applying the gold leaf to the surface of an object, reheating it, and inflating a parison against the decorated surface.

(1) The process of founding or melting the batch; (2) heating pieces of glass in a kiln or furnace until they bond (see Casting and Kiln forming); (3) heating enameled glasses until the enamel bonds with the surface of the object.

(Italian, “chalcedony”) Glass marbled with brown, blue, green, and yellow swirls in imitation of chalcedony and other banded semiprecious stones. Calcedonio was first made in Venice in the late 15th century.

Any crystalline inclusion present in glass. Stones consist of unmelted particles of batch, fragments of refractory material from the pot, or devitrification crystals. Stones of the first two varieties are generally irregular but rounded; those of the third variety are angular and well formed.

Decoration consisting of bubbles of air trapped in the glass in a diamond-shaped pattern. This is achieved by blowing a gather of glass into a mold with projections of the desired design, withdrawing it, and covering it with a second gather, which traps pockets of air in the indentations. This technique was patented by W. H., B. & J. Richardson of England in 1857.

An air-filled void, which may be of almost any shape. Air traps in stems are frequently tearshaped or elongated and spirally twisted.

An air-filled void, which may be of almost any shape. Air traps in stems are frequently tearshaped or elongated and spirally twisted.

The process of pricking molten glass with a tool that leaves small, air-filled hollows. When the glass is covered with a second gather, the hollows become air traps. This technique is used to decorate knops and paperweights.

A type of decoration in the stems of 18th-century and later drinking glasses, made by twisting a glass rod embedded with threads of white glass, threads of colored glass, columns of air (air twists), or a combination of all three.