Explore 35 centuries of glass art. Learn how to use this app from The Corning Museum of Glass. It showcases more than 100 highlights of the world's best glass museum, from an ancient Egyptian glass portrait of a pharaoh to Venetian glass masterpieces to works by modern and contemporary artists like Louis Comfort Tiffany, Emile Galle, Dale Chihuly, and Josiah McElheny.

Listen as curator Jane Shadel Spillman describes Fruit Basket produced by Boston and Sandwich Glass Company. The process of pressing glass was perfected fairly quickly. By the 1840s, it was possible to press large objects without surface defects. This fruit basket illustrates the development of the technique. The openings in the basket show that the mold was divided into several parts and that the molten glass had to be sufficiently liquid to flow into all of the openings in the mold.

Listen as curator Jane Shadel Spillman describes the Morgan Vase. The Victorian sense of "good taste" emphasized ornate works. Some glassmakers met this demand by creating dramatic color effects. Several American factories produced Peachblow glass, which had a surface that shaded from opaque cream to pink or red, sometimes over opaque white. This glass was made in imitation of the Morgan Vase, a famous 18th-century Chinese peachbloom porcelain vase that sold at auction in 1886 for the astonishing price of $18000.

Listen as curator David Whitehouse describes an ancient Egyptian furnace. This is a full-scale model of a furnace that was used for making glass at Tell el-Amarna, Egypt, nearly 3500 years ago. The model shows half of the furnace. The lower part was constructed in a pit, with only the dome above ground level. Raw materials were melted in heat-resistant crucibles placed on ledges above the fire. The stokehole was in the other half of the furnace.

The history of glass and glass making started over 3500 years ago. David Whitehouse introduces the ancient gallery, which illustrates the glass that was made in the ancient world and in the Islamic medieval period.

Listen as curator David Whitehouse describes this display, telling the story of two remarkable lampworkers, Leopold Blaschka and his son Rudolf, who created in glass thousands of models of invertebrates, animals without backbones, as well as flowers and plants. The father began the business of making glass models of jellyfish, octopuses, and other animals without backbones in order to supply a worldwide need at the then new natural history museums.

Listen as curator Tina Oldknow describes Dragonfly Coupe, created by French glass artist Emile Gallé. The love of nature, characteristic of the art nouveau style, is reflected in this remarkable coupe. A poet, designer, and a businessman, Gallé was well-versed in art, literature, botany, and chemistry. The greatest influence on his glass was nature, with its varied colors and textures. The words, "Our roots are in the depths of the woods, on the edge of the springs, among the mosses" were carved into his studio doors.

Listen as curator David Whitehouse describes this micromosaic panel in a carved gilt wood frame. The panel shows a view of St. Peter's Square in Rome at the time of a Sunday benediction by Pope Leo XIII. The Pope can be seen in the background standing on the balcony blessing a large gathering of pilgrims; in the foreground promenade elegantly dressed figures. A panel, with this design, was commissioned by the Pecci family in 1879, from the master mosaicist Biagio P. Barzotti at the Vatican Mosaic Workshops.

Listen as glass artist William Gudenrath describes flameworking (or lampworking), the technique used by the Blaschka's to create the objects in this case at the Museum. The display tells the story of two remarkable lampworkers, Leopold Blaschka and his son Rudolf, who created in glass thousands of models of invertebrates, animals without backbones, as well as flowers and plants.

Listen as curator Tina Oldknow describes Bottle created by glass artist Maurice Marinot. Marinot studied painting at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and he exhibited regularly at the Salon d'Automne and the Salon des Indépendants in Paris from 1905 to 1913. Although Marinot was developing his career as a painter, he became interested in a glassworks owned by his friends Eugène and Gabriel Viard, situated near Marinot's home in Troyes. During a visit to the factory, Marinot was introduced to glassworking.