Egyptian Blown Glass Tree Ornament

Rings of the Season: Egyptian Glass Stacked Christmas Tree Ornament

What if a Christmas tree and a piece of fine sculpture decided to collaborate on something truly spectacular? The result, apparently, is this utterly delightful stacked-ring tree, hand-blown in Egypt from German Pyrex glass by artisans whose mastery of the medium borders on the magical. Seven generously proportioned rings of alternating ruby red and emerald green ascend in perfectly graduated steps from a clear glass trunk to a sparkling clear finial top — each ring glowing with an inner luminosity that makes the whole ornament seem lit from within. It is at once charmingly traditional and refreshingly modern, the sort of ornament that stops guests mid-conversation to ask, "Where did you get that?"

The Christmas tree itself has a surprisingly recent history as holiday traditions go — Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg, husband of Queen Victoria, is widely credited with popularizing the decorated tree in England after an 1848 illustration of the royal family around their tree was published and promptly copied across the English-speaking world. But the glass ornament tradition is older still, born in the forests of Lauscha, Germany in the 1840s, where glassblowers first began crafting baubles to replace the fruits and nuts that had previously adorned tree branches. This elegant Egyptian-made tree pays homage to that long and glittering tradition.

• Hand-blown Egyptian ornament crafted from German Pyrex glass
• Measures approximately 3.5" tall × 2" wide × 2" deep (8.9 cm × 5 cm × 5 cm)
• Seven stacked rings in alternating ruby red and emerald green; clear glass finial top and trunk base
• No metal accents — pure artisan glass throughout
• Includes gold metallic hanging cord; a festive and sophisticated addition to any holiday décor