ABSTRACT
The first impression one has when confronted with an open-work glass vessel is undoubtedly the delicately pierced outer layer. Known today as open-work vessels, cage cups, or diatreta, this kind of glassware may have been used as drinking-cups or lamps.2 Although carved from a single, continuous piece of glass, these distinctive vessels were divided into an extensively carved and pierced outer layer, and a plainer inner layer that served as the container. The two layers remained connected only by a network of perpendicular glass bridges (fig. 13.1). The technical difficulties involved in this elaborate construction are related to, but surpass, the technical proficiency exhibited by contemporary forms of cut glass decoration, such as facet cut or cameo glass.
