238 



GLASS 



as Byzantine. The .Byzantine manufacturers 

 became specially famous for the production of 

 glass mosaics ; and throughout the middle ages 

 there are many notices of mosaic decorations 

 derived from Constantinople. From the Byzan- 

 tines the Arabs obtained a knowledge of glass- 

 making, and ' glass of Damascus ' attained celeb- 

 rity in medieval times through the numerous 

 examples brought to western Europe by Crusaders. 

 It is most probable also that the great centre of 

 the glass industry of medieval and more recent 

 times, Venice, received its early impulse and 

 lessons from Constantinople. The art began there 

 with the beginning of the city in the 7th century 

 A.D. ; but it experienced a marked improvement 

 after the conquest of Constantinople in 1204, and 

 in 1291 the establishments were removed to the 

 island of Murano, the manufacturers forming a 

 guild with a Libro d'Oro, or register of nobility, 

 and guarding their secret with the greatest jeal- 

 ousy. In 1436 their colour-glass came into note, 

 and continued so till the close of the century ; 

 and in the 16th century lace-patterns and mirrors 

 were introduced. In the 15th and 16th cen- 

 turies plain glass with tasteful ornaments gilt and 

 enamelled ; in the 16th, crackled lace and reticu- 

 lated glass, vitro di trino ; and in the 17th century 

 variegated or marbled glasses were produced. The 



Fig. 3. German 

 Drinking-glass. 



Fig. 4. Venetian Glass on 

 open-work stem. 



millefiori glass extends through all periods, and 

 seems to have been derived from the Roman, being 

 continued to the present day, when large quanti- 

 ties of this glass in the form of beads are annually 

 imported to England, and transported to Africa 

 and Asia in the way of trade. The Venetian glass 

 enjoyed for a long time the monopoly of commerce, 

 the mirrors,, goblets, and cups being exported all 

 over the world, and within recent years there has 

 been a marked revival of the skill and enterprise of 

 Venetian craftsmen. The forms of the Venetian 

 glass reflected its oriental origin, and the earlier 



flass of other countries of Europe in turn shows the 

 erivation of their art from Venice. In Germany 

 the oldest glass (which was flint) dates from the 

 16th century, and consists of goblets and tankards 



of white colour, enamelled with coloured coats of 

 arms and other devices, millefiori, and schmeltz 

 glass. Engraved glass was first introduced by 

 Caspar Lehmann at Prague in 1609 under imperial 

 protection, and continued by his pupil G. Sen wan - 

 nard ; and ruby glass by Kunckel in 1679. Glass 

 is said to have been made in 1294 at Quinquen- 

 grone, in Normandy, and a common kind was 

 made later in Dauphine and Provence. In 1665 

 twenty Venetian glass-workers were brought by 

 Colbert to Paris, where they set up the blowing of 

 glass and the silvering of mirrors, the famous 

 mirror hall in Versailles having been furnished by 

 them. In 1688 an exclusive privilege of making 

 large plates of glass by casting was conferred on 

 Abraham Thevart. It has been discovered that 

 the name Thevart was assumed by a syndicate of 

 capitalists formed to develop and work the inven- 

 tion of Louis Lucas de Nehon, who was the real 

 inventor of plate-glass and the founder of the 

 Gobain works to this clay one of the most exten- 

 sive plate-glass works in the world. In 1865 there 

 was placed a memorial over the door of the chapel 

 of Gobain with the following inscription : ' Louis 

 Lucas de Nehon inventa en 1691 la methode de 

 couler les glaces, et installa la manufacture, en 

 1695, dans le chateau de Saint Gobain, ou il est 

 mort, en 1728.' In France, oxide of lead flint-glass 

 was made at St Cloud in 1784 ; another manufac- 

 tory was subsequently established at St Louis in 

 1790 ; and the St Cloud establishment was removed 

 to the vicinity of Mont Cenis, where it flourished 

 till 1827. 



It is uncertain whether glass was made in England 

 before the 16th century, as that mentioned may 

 have been imported from Flanders or Venice. In 

 674 Benedict Biscop introduced makers of glass 

 windows into Northumbria ; but window-glass was 

 not in general use for windows till the 15th century. 

 In 1557 flint-glass was manufactured at the Savoy 

 and Crutched Friars; in 1565 there were glass-works 

 under Cornelius de Launoy ; and in 1567 Jean 

 Quarre and other Flemish manufacturers estab- 

 lished Avorks at Crutched Friars, which Quarre's 

 descendants extended to Sussex. In 1615 Sir R. 

 Maunsell obtained a patent for making glass, in 

 consideration of using pit-coal instead of wood, 

 and oxide of lead was then introduced in 1635 ; 

 and in 1673 Venetian artists, brought over by the 

 Duke of Buckingham, manufactured mirrors of 

 plate-glass at Lambeth, and drinking-glasses were 

 made at this period. But Venetian glass was 

 extensively imported. In 1771 the company of 

 British Plate-glass Manufacturers was established 

 at Ravenhead, near Prescot, Lancashire. Patent 

 plate, which consists of fine sheet-glass polished, 

 was first made by Messrs Chance of Birmingham in 

 1840. In Scotland the manufacture was intro- 

 duced in the reign of James VI. , and George Hay 

 obtained a patent for thirty-one years. The first 

 glass was manufactured at Wemyss, in Fife, 

 afterwards at Prestonpans and Leith. In 1661 

 only the principal chambers of the king's palace 

 had glass. In America attempts seem to have 

 been made to establish glass-works at Jamestown, 

 Virginia, in 1608-22 ; at Salem, Massachusetts, in 

 1639-40; in New York city before 1664; and in 

 Pennsylvania before 1683. Subsequently works 

 were established in 1780 at Temple, New Hamp- 

 shire ; in 1792 at Boston ; and in 1797 at Pittsburg. 

 Plate-glass was first made there in 1853, and it is 

 also made at Baltimore and New York. 



At an early period the application of glass for 

 magnifying lenses appears to have been known. 

 Ptolemy II. had a telescope mounted at the Pharos, 

 and globes filled with water were in use for the 

 purpose of magnifying under the Romans. Lenses 

 are mentioned in the 12th century A.D. by Alhazan, 



