Art Glass

via Tulumba.com

I send Sybil and Alexis hunting for gifts through the bazaars of Istanbul - a must for any visit to Turkey - and they stop to buy some perfume and bottles for it at the Mısır Çarşi.  The very name of this spice bazaar means egyptian market, so spun glass perfum bottles from Egypt aren't an unusual find there, or anywhere these days really. You can probably pick one up at Home Goods or Pier One.  So they went to Istanbul and bought Egyptian glass?? Right...well, see Istanbul was a trading point for a long time so the art glass market has influences from other places, of course.

On the other hand, çesm-i bȕlbȕl is very Turkish, I guess... The "nightingale's eye" design is formed by inserting blue and white glass rods and then hand blowing and twisting the glass at the same time.  Wait, isn't that a Venetian technique? Hey, Piazza San Marco looks like it could be in Istanbul so it's fair to say, with the trade routes between them, each city ripped off ideas from the other pretty successfully.

Today, the distinctly Turkish nightingale's eye design is manufactured by the Paşabahçe art glass line. You can get it online @Tulumba.com (the perfume bottle above is from them). I'm sure there are other sources, but I already have mine, so...

Not too much linkage today, couldn't find much of anything good in English, but here's something from the NY Times about it:

http://travel.nytimes.com/2005/06/26/travel/26foraging.html

IMPORTANT NB!! I want to say thanks to LTM for great comments and WHAT? a Newbie Bestie Award for blogging??? I'm so thrillled :)))   I've posted it in the sidebar for future generations :)) Can't stop smiling, sorry!