Technical study of a rare Venetian turquoise glass goblet from the Waddesdon Bequest

A Venetian enamelled and gilded goblet (WB.55) is part of the collection bequeathed to the British Museum by Baron Ferdinand Rothschild in 1898. Conservation treatment in 1994 provided the opportunity to remove a small sample containing some opaque white as well as rare turquoise glass. These fragments were analysed using scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry and by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Further analyses were carried out on the enamels and blue glass knop of the goblet using surface X-ray fluorescence. This contribution locates the object in the context of Venetian glass of the Renaissance as well as the history of collecting. The conservation history and the processes employed to conserve the object prior to its redisplay in the new Waddesdon Gallery at the British Museum in 2015 are described. Careful macroscopic and microscopic observations are combined with the chemical analyses to outline a comprehensive chaîne opératoire for the object. Technically, it is fully consistent with current understanding of glass production in Venice in the late fifteenth century