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.

Cameo Glass
Video

Discover the history of Roman cameo glass, and lean how it is made, with experts at The Corning Museum of Glass. This video was featured in the exhibit Reflecting Antiquity at The Corning Museum of Glass, February 15 through May 27, 2008.

Glass Jug inside of a Jug
Video

Watch experts at The Corning Museum of Glass recreate one of the stranger glass pieces made in Roman times — a jug inside of another, larger jug! This video was featured in the exhibit Reflecting Antiquity at The Corning Museum of Glass, February 15 through May 27, 2008.

Making Iridized Glass
Video

Learn about ancient iridized glass and a method for creating iridized glass surfaces. This video was featured in the exhibit Reflecting Antiquity  at The Corning Museum of Glass, February 15 through May 27, 2008. Note: the method portrayed uses stannous chloride fumes, which can be highly toxic. Do

Gold Glass
Video

Learn about Gold Glass from Ancient Rome, and also, how to make gold glass today. This video was featured in the exhibit Reflecting Antiquity  at The Corning Museum of Glass, February 15- May 27, 2008.

Cage Cup- Family
Video

Cage cups were made by Roman glasscutters in the fourth century AD. The entire vessel was cut from a thick-walled glass hemisphere. The metal attachments show that the object was a hanging lamp. Imagine the shadows the "cage" would have cast as the lamplight flickered.

Cage Cup
Video

Listen as curator David Whitehouse describes a Roman cage cup. Cage cups are the most exclusive luxury glasses made in the later Roman Empire. They date from about AD 250 to the mid-fourth century. Cutting and grinding a single thick-walled blank was a laborious and risky process. If just one mesh

“Flexible” Roman Glass?
Article

There are three sources that concern the story of the “flexible” glass of first century Rome: Pliny’s Natural History, Petronius’ Satyricon, and Dio Cassius’ Roman History. Petronius (d. 63 A.D.) published the story before Pliny, who completed his encyclopedia in 78 A.D. Dio Cassius’ story is much

Glass of the Romans
Article

Until about 50 B.C. glass objects could only be made slowly due to the limited techniques available. One bottle could take several days to make via casting or cutting techniques. Core-formed objects may have taken 45 minutes to create. Glass furnace technology was such that only small amounts of

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.

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

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

A Fragment of Roman Glass Decorated with Enamel
Article

In 1975, The Corning Museum of Glass acquired a fragment with enameled ornament that was attributed to the late Hellenistic or early Roman period. 1 It was purchased in the marketplace, and the Museum has no record of its history. The purpose of this note is to suggest that it may have been

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