Glass is one of the oldest completely man-made materials, and according to the ancient Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder, glass has a history of more than 4,000 years, and was first invented by the Phoenicians. Ancient Western glassmaking centers were in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Syria. During the Hellenistic period (about the 4th to 1st centuries BC), glassmaking techniques spread through the Balkan Peninsula and southern Europe throughout the Mediterranean coast. The expansion of the ancient Romans provided new impetus for the development of glass technology and made it more widely disseminated.
▲ Ancient Roman Thousand Flowers Glass (c. 1st century BC)
It is now in the Ljubljana Municipal Museum
▲ Ancient Roman Glass Bowl of Thousand Flowers (c. 2nd century BC)
Imported from Alexandria, Egypt
It is now in the Archaeological Museum of Perugia
From the Renaissance to the present day, venice's island of Murano is not only a holiday destination, but also the most famous boutique glass production center in Europe, where a glass bead reminiscent of "dragonfly eyes" can be seen everywhere.
▲ Venetian Murano Thousand Flowers Glass Bead Plate (Contemporary)
▲ Venetian Murano Thousand Flowers Glass Beads (1920s)
▲ Venetian Murano Thousand Flowers Glass Beads (1850s)
▲ Thousand Flowers Glass Beads in Alexandria, Egypt (1st century AD)
It is now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York
▲ Venetian Murano Thousand Flowers Glass Beads (about 1500)
It is now in the collection of the Basel Historical Museum
Related to this delicate glass bead is the famous "Millefiori" in glass art. The invention of the Thousand Flowers Glass Technique dates back to ancient Roman times, when a mischievous and imaginative glass craftsman discovered the beauty of this magical kaleidoscope by slicing from bundles of stained glass rods.
▲ Ancient Roman figure head thousand flowers glass piece (about the first century AD)
It is now in the collection of the Munich State Museum of Classical Treasures
As early as the first century BC, in Alexandria, Egypt, it was famous for producing stained glass rods; about two centuries later, this technique entered the glass workshops of ancient Rome, where it was used to make mosaic glass.
▲ Ancient Roman Glass Bowl of Thousand Flowers (c. 1st century BC)
It is now in the collection of the Louvre in Paris
▲ Venetian Murano Thousand Flowers Glass Bowl (1870)
The process of making a thousand flowers glass is extremely complex, and it requires craftsmen to master superb firing skills and have artistic imagination at the same time. During the production process, glass rods of different colors are heated, melted and stretched together to form a delicate colored glass rod, which is then cut into thin slices while it is cooled, and its cross-section will present a colorful pattern. Due to the different combinations of stained glass rods, craftsmen can use their imagination to create various patterns on glass slides, stars, flowers and flowers, and even generate animal patterns and portraits.
▲ Venetian Murano Gondola Thousand Flowers Glass Plate (1846)
By Giovanni Battista Francini
It is now in the collection of the Murano Glass Museum
▲ Portrait of Garibaldi in Venetian Murano Thousand Flowers Glass (1862)
By Giacomo Francini
By the fifteenth century, the glass masters of Murano in Venice combined stained glass sheets with blowing techniques, which led to the development of the technique of thousand flowers glass manufacturing. Since then, the production of thousands of flowers glass has begun in the bohemian region and in glass workshops in Britain, France and Germany.
▲ Contemporary Thousand Flowers Glass Artwork
By American glass artist David Patcher
To this day, the ever-changing kaleidoscopic glass is still favored by the masters of glass art and has become a highly expressive glass art language.