Venice Glass

The drinking glasses of the Middle Ages, made at Venice, were said to break into shivers if poison were put into them.

Doge. “‘Tis said that our Venetian crystal has

Such pure antipathy to poison, as

To burst, if aught of venom touches it.”

Byron: The Two Foscari, v. 1.

Venice glass, from its excellency, became a synonym for perfection.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.