Venetian glass

Scope note: Refers to distinctive glass made in Venice, Italy. It can refer to early glass made from about 450 CE when glass-makers from Aquileia fled there and were soon joined by others from Byzantium. In addition, the term is particularly used to refer to glass made on the Venetian island of Murano from before 1292 to the present day. It is generally a sodiac type of glass; soda glass is light in weight and highly ductile. Venetian glass incorporates a number of styles and techniques although Venetian glass-makers particularly excelled in the making of colored glass, agate glass, opaque white glass (lattimo), cristallo, filigrana, and millefiori. Engraving is rarely found while enameling and gilding are common, particularly in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century specimens. In order to protect their profits and the secrets of Venetian glass, the Venetians confined glassmakers under pain of death to the island of Murano; however, the techniques were eventually imitated in "Altare glass" and "façon de Venise." For glass made exclusively on Murano, see "Murano glass."

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