A few Venetian Companies with glass paste products are known to us through participation in ex-
hibitions: Benetto Polacco, “privil. manufacturer of small glass wares and rosaries in Venice,” ex-
hibited among other things, “an assortment of agated, color-glass paste for mosaics” in Vienna in
1835 (Vienna, 1835; Report, p. 260).
The Bigaglia Company, an “imperially authorized national factory for glass beads, enamels and im-
itation stones in Venice” presented an extensive line of products in Vienna in 1839 which included
“an assortment of glass cakes, colored paste, twisted then striped and solid colored glass tubes
for melting and for knitting beads, glass rods for fantasy-beads and for fantasy beads made at the
lamp, furthermore 3 samples of plate glass, four sample books and 6 sample cards of the most di
verse glass pastes, fantasy, knitting and other beads and artificial stones.” (Vienna, 1839; Report,
p. 32).
Taking part at the Vienna Exposition of 1845 were Pietro Bigaglia, “Owner of glass bead, glass
paste, enamel and mosaic factories in Venice and Murano” (“glass pastes (enamels) in cakes, in-
cluding aventurine; glass pastes for color and rods,.. . gold glass paste . . .’) and the Fratelli
Coen di Benedetto, “producers of glass paste in Venice" (“These Companies produce an ex-
tremely beautiful and, as far as brilliance is concerned, excellent aventurine which is very sought
after also for its fusibility, by the Bohemian factories at Liebenau and Gablonz for work at the
lamp.”) (Vienna, 1845; Report, pp. 102, 103).
Bigaglia was listed in the Trade and Crafts Address Book of 1854 with two entries under the head-
ing, “Conterie, perle di vetro e smalti (Fabbr. e negoz. di.):” “Bigaglia Pietro, fu Lorenzo, membro
dell’ Accademia nazionale agricola, manifatturiera e commerc. di Parigi, decorato della medaglia
alia grande esposizione di Londra, ss. Gio. Paolo barbaria delle tavole 6478” and “Fabbriche unite
di canna di vetro e smalti rapp, da Pietro Bigaglia" at the same addresse (Gottfried-Pernold
11/1854, p. 618).
SMALL BOTTLES FROM ENGLAND, FRANCE AND BOHEMIA
Many of these tiny bottles corresponded in their appearance to the precious contents they en-
closed. They were represented in the Cabinets of the Imperial Polytechnical Institute in a great va-
riety of materials, colors, shapes and sizes, from the well known Lithyalin bottles made by Eger-
mann (TH 11256), the smelling salt bottles of imitation-stone glass by Zieh (TH 11257) and the
bottles in black Hyalith of Buquoy (TH 12181-12183) to those from Italy: a “flacon, ball-shaped, in
imitation-stone glass, for pleasant-smelling water” by Miotti, Venice (TH 11618), the Bohemian
“bottles for oil of roses” (TH 11806, 11807), the “double-bottle in ruby glass with opulent gold and
silver decoration” by Bienert (TH 11835) and the “fourfold cut glass bottle" from Meistersdorf (TH
12300).
In addition to the well known forms with Stoppers or metal hinged closures, there were also spe
cial varieties such as the double-bottles or Stoppers in bottle form. These bottles are often col-
lectively known as scent bottles even though the term is not always applicable; sometimes they
were simply little bottles (ills. 1, 3), and by its nature, the spirit lighter (ill. 138) certainly departed
from the scent bottle interpretation.
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