ABSTRACT
In 1500, Marcantonio Coccia Sabellico published the Opera Omnia. Among his descriptions ofRenaissance Venice in Book Ill (De Venetae urbis situ), was a passage describing the fame of the Muranese glass industry. He stated, "there is no kind of precious stone that cannot be imitated by the industry of the glass workers, a sweet contest of man and nature." One of the glasses that Sabellico surely had in mind when this passage was written was Venetian calcedonio, made to evoke the visual appearance ofmorevaluable semi-precious stones such as jasper and agate.
