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

Listen as former curator David Whitehouse describes this Sasanian cup. An example of Sasanian craftsmanship, this is a small bowl cut with relief bosses. It was probably made in Iran. The surfaces of the bosses are concave. The surrounding glass has been cut back to leave the bosses standing in

Listen as curator, Tina Oldknow, describes "Chartreuse Pair" by American artist Dante Marioni.

Listen as glass artist William Gudenrath describes the techniques used by glass artist Maurice Marinot to create Bottle. 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.

Listen as curator Dedo von Kerssenbrock-Krosigk describes this trick goblet, which holds a separate "straw" whose finial resembles the head a stag. To drink from it, one has to suck the liquid through the mouth of the stag while covering a hole in the stem of the vessel. Thus, this glass

Listen as curator Tina Oldknow, describes the object "West Sky" by artist Alessandro Diaz de Santillana. De Santillana uses color and form to interpret the four elements of the exterior world—air, earth, fire, and water—and the five senses of the interior world—sight, sound, smell, taste,

Listen as curator David Whitehouse describes this elaborate mosaic glass tabletop. The tabletop was submitted by the papal government to the Paris Exposition Universelle, in 1867. It consists of a large disk of white marble, inlaid in the pietra dura technique. The more than 2000 glass pieces

Listen as curator David Whitehouse describes an ewer signed by Ennion. The discovery that vessels could be formed and decorated by inflating a gob of glass in a mold permitted large numbers of virtually identical objects to be produced quickly and inexpensively. The first-century Roman writer Pliny

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 the technique of making a core-formed vessel. The technique of core forming, which was introduced around the middle of the 16th century BC, was used to fashion some of the first glass vessels. Core forming involves the application of glass to a