Glass in the Far East
- 265-419 Jin dynasty
A poet told of glass imported into China and compared it to a spring day and its clearness to winter ice. Another poet told of the difficult and lengthily eastward journey imported glass made over scorching deserts and steep mountains. Chinese nobles and scholars were so proud of their glassware that they invited guests to compose poems to celebrate their collections. - 618-907 Tang dynasty
Evidence is vague, but it is thought that Persian artisans went to China to make glass, and at least one Chinese ruler sent a mission to Persia to bring back glass bowls and other treasures. Some glass is known to have been made in China. - 1368-1644 Ming dynasty
A Jesuit missionary priest, Father Matteo Ricci, recorded that he showed glittering Venetian prisms to members of the imperial court and amazed them. He wrote "At the present time, they make glass, but inferior enough to our own." - 1644-1911 Qing dynasty
Glassmaking flourished in China in the18th century with deep cutting and cameo carving of brilliantly colored glasses, including fashionable snuff bottles. (Snuff-taking is the inhalation of powdered tobacco.) Enameled imitations of fine18th century Chinese porcelain were also made by Chinese glassmakers.
In Japan, early imports of Chinese glass stimulated the development of glass making paralleling that of China. This industry later produced styles characteristic of Japanese taste.
Archeological finds of Western glasses, and some remains of local manufacture, have been uncovered in Korea, throughout Southeast Asia, and in India.
Beads, bangles, and other small glass objects were made in India in pre-Roman times, and the production of blown utilitarian wares had been firmly established there by the Middle Ages. Beads made in India were widely distributed throughout Southeast Asia.