The collections of glassware and Limoges painted enamels acquired by Sir
Richard Wallace may at first glance seem unlikely bedfellows. Yet both
are 'arts of fire' and both are 'vitreous art', albeit with rather
different aesthetic ends. Moreover, the collections are, broadly
speaking, contemporaneous in date of manufacture, from the late 15th to
the 17th centuries. Much of the exquisite glassware in the collection
was made in Venice or elsewhere in the Venetian style (façon de Venise).