From the mid-1500s throughout the 1600s, glasshouses in central and southern Germany, the Netherlands, and France produced many so-called Warzengläser (wart glasses). The walls of these vessels were pattern molded, with rows of egg-shaped, hemispherical, or rectilinear embossments.

Wart glasses were probably used for drinking or as altar reliquaries. Many wart glasses of colorless, amber yellow, violet, and light-green to bluish-green glass, still exist. The scale and proportions, tightly organized surface pattern, and dark, translucent, emerald-green color of the Getty Museum's glass make it exceptional in quality and color.