All About Glass

All About Glass

This is your resource for exploring various topics in glass: delve deeper with this collection of articles, multimedia, and virtual books all about glass. Content is frequently added to the area, so check back for new items. If you have a topic you'd like to see covered, send us your suggestion. If you have a specific question, Ask a Glass Question at our Rakow Research Library.

An Anglo-Saxon Cone Beaker from Faversham
Article

The beaker (Figs. 1 and 2), in the collection of The Corning Museum of Glass, may be described as follows: Cone beaker [85.1.4] Anglo-Saxon Probably seventh century H. 17.6 cm, D. (rim) 8.5 cm. Transparent yellowish-amber glass with many bubbles. Rim outsplayed, turned inward and downward; body

A Mold-Blown Bottle from the Workshop of Titianus Hyacinthus
Article

This note describes and illustrates a mold-blown square bottle with an inscription on the base. 1 Description The bottle (Fig. 1) is 18.9 centimeters high and is made of transparent bluish green glass. The body was blown in a mold with four vertical sections and a separate baseplate. The object is

Fakes & Forgeries
Video

Listen as former curator David Whitehouse describes glass fakes and forgeries. A fake is a genuine object that has been altered or "improved," usually to enhance its value. A forgery is a copy or imitation of an object, made to deceive people (usually prospective owners) into believing

The Corning Ewer
Video

Listen as former curator David Whitehouse describes the Corning Ewer, an outstanding example of Islamic relief-cut cameo glass. A layer of transparent light green glass was applied to a layer of colorless glass. Most of the outer layer was then cut away, leaving the decoration in relief. Although

60 Years- Surprising Discoveries
Video

Curators occasionally make surprising discoveries. Before the Museum acquired this object, it was identified as an 18th-century Indian spittoon. The surface is crizzled (that is, it has begun to deteriorate). The curator had never seen an example of crizzled Indian glass, so he looked at it closely

An Unusual Fragment of Cameo Glass
Article

The subject of this note is a fragment of cameo glass [59.1.509] (Figs. 1 and 2), now in The Corning Museum of Glass, that was formerly in the collection of Ray Winfield Smith. 1 It was shown in the 1957 exhibition Glass from the Ancient World as part of a group of early Islamic cameo glass, which

Early Islamic Gold Sandwich Glass in The Corning Museum of Glass
Article

This article reviews the current state of our knowledge of early Islamic gold sandwich glass and publishes five examples in the Museum's collection. In 1964, the Corning Museum acquired a gold sandwich glass cup [64.1.32] (Fig. 1) that was identified as “2nd–4th century A.D., Parthian or

Paperweights- Family
Video

Listen as curator David Whitehouse describes the stages of making a paperweight.

Glass in the Price Edict of Diocletian
Article

In A.D. 301, Emperor Diocletian attempted to halt a rapid rise in prices by issuing his Edictum de pretiis (Edict on prices), which established maximum prices and wages throughout the Roman Empire. Copies of the edict were inscribed in Latin or Greek on marble panels and posted in prominent places.

Red Glasses from Beirut
Article

In his monumental study of documents from the Cairo Genizah, the late S.D. Goitein drew attention to a letter requesting, among other items, "a wickerwork basket with red glasses from Beirut, and if they cannot be had, white glasses." 1 The letter, which is written in Arabic but with

Roman Glass Boats
Article

This note discusses the function of a group of Roman glass models of boats. Six boats are known. They were found at Pompeii (two examples, including Fig. 1), 1 Palombara in Sabina, 2 Aquileia 3 and Santa Elena di Melma near Treviso in ltaly, 4 and St. Aldegund near Koblenz in Germany. 5 All of the

Byzantine Silver Stain: Another Example?
Article

In last year's Journal of Glass Studies [Vol. 42], Mark T. Wypyski and the present authors described a fragmentary vessel decorated with silver stain, and concluded that it is Byzantine and of about the 10th century. 1 We compared the fragment with the celebrated bowl with painted ornament in

Glass in the Epigrams of Martial
Article

The Verses of Martial, which were composed between A.D. 83 and 102, mostly in Rome, contain 12 explicit references to objects made of glass (for which Martial uses the noun vitrium or the adjective vitreus), together with two references to "Vatinian cups" (calices Vatinii), which appear

The Date of the Glass from Karanis
Article

Today, more than 60 years after its publication, Donald B. Harden's monograph on the glass from Karanis 1 is still one of the most frequently cited sources of information on the glass of Roman Egypt. The quantity of objects found at the site and their excellent state of preservation provided