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BLOWN GLASS
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The invention of glass-blowing occurred in the 1st century B.C. on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea and must certainly be considered an extraordinary event, the most important in the entire history of glass. In fact, blowing allowed the quick and economical production of glass containers, accessible to all social classes in the Roman Empire, whereas before then glass was subject to complex and costly working procedures and was reserved for use by the wealthiest strata of society. |
It was then that glass art became clearly divided into two distinct areas, the first markedly elitarian based on the more ancient techniques, the second destined for the production of utilitarian containers, thanks to the technique of blowing. Over time, especially in Venice, glass blowing became the privileged technique for the highest quality glass works.
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In fact, beginning in the Middle Ages, the glassmasters on Murano developed extraordinary skill in shaping hot glass, inventing new techniques and above all creating supremely elegant shapes, finished with highly refined details. Their lightness, the uniformly thin walls, the pure cristallo or the colors of precious stones, the decorations in techniques invented by the masters on Murano, took these products from Murano into the major European markets and the Renaissance courts. Since then, the vessel, or in general the decorative object from Murano, and its tableware have become the most sought after decorative art pieces in the world. |
| In the field of blown glass, some of the most important decorative techniques were created on Murano and are still in use: of all of them, perhaps filigrana holds the place of honor. Both the retortoli type and the reticello type, dating back to the XVI th century, as well as the more recent variations, create a delicate effect of lacework within the vitreous walls. The filigrana may also be combined with other techniques such as incalmo, decoration with applied threads, sommerso, even murrine. |
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In ancient tradition it was the glassmaster, or the glasshouse owner if he had esthetic taste, who created the designs. Today some masters continue, traditionally, to fulfill the role of creator-maker but since the 1920's the figure of the designer exists in many glasshouses |
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