Listen as curator David Whitehouse describes the glass portrait of King Amenhotep II. Ancient glass sculpture is very rare. This is one of the earliest known glass portraits. It probably shows the head of Amenhotep II, who was ruler of Egypt about 60 years before Tutankhamen. The craft of

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

Listen as former curator David Whitehouse describes the Beth She'arim slab. As in earlier times, Roman glassmaking and glassworking often took place in separate locations. Glassmakers melted raw materials to produce glass. Glassworkers formed the glass into finished objects. Finally, glass

Listen as curator Dedo von Kerssenbrock-Krosigk describes this George Ravenscroft piece. In March 1674, the English glassmaker George Ravenscroft applied for a patent to make colorless lead glass. Unfortunately, this glass was prone to crizzling, a chemical instability that results in an attack by

Listen as curator David Whitehouse describes the Morgan cup. The rarest and most elaborate luxury vessels of the early Roman Empire are cameo glasses. These objects were inspired by relief-cut gems of banded semiprecious stones, such as onyx. Glassmakers cased (covered) objects of one color with

Listen as curator Jane Shadel Spillman describes this electric cut glass lamp. Six lamps in this style are known, and all of them are cut in the same pattern. The manufacturer has not been positively identified. One of these lamps was purchased in Chicago in the late 1930s or early 1940s, and

Listen as curator David Whitehouse describes the technique of core forming, which was introduced around the middle of the 16th century BC, and was used to fashion some of the first glass vessels. Core forming involves the application of glass to a removable core supported by a rod. There is no

The Museum's displays of European glass tell the story of glass from the Renaissance in the 15th century to 1900. The Venetians were the master glassworkers of the Renaissance. Later, different parts of Europe produced their own distinctive styles.

Listen as curator Dedo von Kerssenbrock-Krosigk describes this goblet made of gold ruby glass. Gold ruby glass is one of the most difficult colors to achieve in glass because it consists of gold that has been added to the solution of the glass, where it dissolves into small particles, so-called

Listen as curator Dedo von Kerssenbrock-Krosigk describes this mechanical glass theater, which depicts the Wedding at Cana. Figurines in Venetian and Turkish costumes are seated in the loggia of a Rococo palace. The heads and limbs of each figure are lampworked in glass, and they can be moved by