Barovier e Toso - Lattimo Centrepiece Plate

The Barovier name appears in Murano's records as early as 1324, and by the following century Angelo Barovier had done what no other glassmaker in Europe could: a perfectly clear cristallo, made without lead, that the family alone was permitted to produce. Angelo went on to develop lattimo - the opaque white glass invented to answer a problem the rest of Europe hadn't solved either, a convincing stand-in for Chinese porcelain. In 1936 the Barovier furnace merged with Ferro Toso, and by 1942 the house had settled on the name it still carries: Barovier e Toso, among the oldest continuously run glassworks in the world.

Lattimo, cooled to the density and white of porcelain rather than the clarity Murano is better known for. This plate carries it low and wide - a shallow well rather than a dish, dusted with gold leaf across the surface, the same decorating technique Murano furnaces have used on tableware since the 1400s. Signed on the underside, BAROVIER - E TOSO - MURANO, a Barovier e Toso edition from around 1960.