Listen as curator Dedo von Kerssenbrock-Krosigk describes this tazza with Medici Arms. This tazza is enameled with the coat of arms of the Medici family combined with crossed keys and a papal tiara, suggesting that they were made for a member of the church, most probably either Pope Leo X or Pope

Listen as glass artist William Gudenrath describes the techniques used to make this glass object. This Tazza is enameled with the coat of arms of the Medici family combined with crossed keys and a papal tiara, suggesting that they were made for a member of the church, most probably either Pope Leo

Listen as curator Tina Oldknow describes Anthem of Joy in Glass by glass artist Věra Lišková. Lišková was a talented designer who pioneered the use of borosilicate glass for sculpture. Traditionally, borosilicate glass is used for making laboratory wares for scientists, such as beakers and test

Listen as curator Tina Oldknow describes Cheerful Bottle, created by Italian glass artist Dino Martens. Trained as a painter, Dino Martens was the artistic director of the Aureliano Toso glassworks on the island of Murano for many years. There, he produced a variety of designs characterized by

Listen as curator Dedo von Kerssenbrock-Krosigk describes this George Ravenscroft piece. In March 1674, the English glassmaker George Ravenscroft applied for a patent to make colorless lead glass. Unfortunately, this glass was prone to crizzling, a chemical instability that results in an attack by

In the cutting room, a steam-powered shaft drove belts that turned the metal or stone cutting wheels. A glasscutter holds the object against the rotating wheel, which is fed with an abrasive slurry.

Listen as curator, Tina Oldknow describes "Libertà" by American artist Toots Zynsky. In Toots Zynsky's vessels, color reflects and defines emotion, mood, and experience. Her color choices are subjective, instinctual, and grounded in the natural world. Zynsky began to develop her

Listen as curator Tina Oldknow describes Landscape Window designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany. This window was commissioned for Rochroane, a Gothic Revival mansion in Irvington, New York, owned by Melchior S. Beltzhoover. It depicts the Hudson River landscape as seen from Rochroane's hilltop

Listen as curator, Tina Oldknow, describes "Evening Dress with Shawl" by American artist Karen LaMonte. Karen LaMonte's hauntingly beautiful female figures evoke the fragmented bodies of classical antiquity and the pristine statues of 19th-century American neoclassicism. By using

Listen as curator David Whitehouse describes a Roman cage cup. Cage cups are the most exclusive luxury glasses made in the later Roman Empire. They date from about AD 250 to the mid-fourth century. Cutting and grinding a single thick-walled blank was a laborious and risky process. If just one mesh