Bottle with Four Handles 19th century By the beginning of the 16th century, Venice became the leading producer and exporter of fine glass wares and many such products became fashionable in Persia. These styles and techniques influenced local production, and factories were created in Shiraz producing wares that rivaled the imports from abroad. These types of wares-with a flared mouth and bulbous body- were produced in vivid blues and greens, illustrating the range of colors employed by glassmakers in the 18th and 19th centuries. This bottle may have been used to decant or store wine, or perhaps as a base of a water pipe. Such vessels were admired for their graceful shapes and often were decoratively displayed within niches of private and public buildings in Tehran, Isfahan, and Shiraz.. Bottle with Four Handles 444741