This stopped bottle is instantly recognisable as an example of Italian glass from the 1950s: the bright colours and contrasted layering (or ‘casing’), together with the solidity of the vessel, are hallmarks of this period in hot-worked glass. More particularly, the piece is indicative of the artworks produced on Murano, a cluster of small islands situated on the Venetian lagoon. During the Middle Ages, the province became an epicentre for glassmaking; by the thirteenth century, glass produced there was widely regarded as preeminent.  

In Europe after World War II, Italian glassmaking was rivalled only by Scandinavian examples, with heavily cased glass styles following two distinct paths. Scandinavian practitioners favoured a single colour cased with clear glass, while Italian artisans incorporated multiple colours within a single piece. With the revival of techniques such as millefiore (a thousand flowers) and latticino (lattice-pattern), Italian glass at this time became renowned for its exuberance.