- Origin and evolution
- Mesopotamia Glass
- Egyptian and Roman Glass
- Sasan Glass
- Islamic Glass
- Greece and India Glass
- Eastern Glass
- Teutonic (Germany) Glass
- Venetian Glass
- Bohemia Glass
- Austria, Germany, Holland Glass
- French, Spanish, England Glass
- American Glass
- Chinese Glass
- Japanese Glass
- Taiwanese Glass
- Art Nuevo Glass
- Art Deco Glass
- Studio Glass
Origin and evolution
Glass is a transparent material found in the daily life. But where did it come from and who first make it? There is still no exact answer to these questions. But one fact can be sure of, at least from the legend, is that people accidentally discovered that when combine sand, soda-line and ashes in high temperature, they become glass. Latter, people tried to combine the same materials and fired in high temperature and there is the first man-made glass. We will describe the origin of glass in the followings to better understand this special material.
As to the evolution of glass history, if we take the view of geographic location and technique, we can categorize it as western glass and Eastern glass (represented by Chinese glass) describe in the followings.
1. Western Glass
Originated at Syria 3500 B.C.→ Core-forming technique in 1500 B.C. to 1 B.C. at Mesopotamia and Egypt→ Blowing and casting technique in the 1~5 century at Roman Empire → Engraving and painting technique in the 7th ~9th century at Islam → Crystal glass in the 13th ~15th century at Europe Venice Murano → Cutting and engraving technique in the 17th century at North Europe England, Germany and Czechoslovakia → Machine press technique in the 18th ~19th century at USA→ Art glass in the late 19th century at Europe → Glass Studio Movement since year 1962。
2. Eastern glass (represent by Chinese glass)
Dragonfly beads (also called Warring-States beads or Dragonfly’s eye) in 403~221 B.C. at the Warring States→ Lead & Barium casting glass in 206 B.C ~220 A.D. Western Han Dynasty →Blowing glass for household wares (Sodium glass) in the 5th century Southern and Northern Dynasty → Blowing glassware in the 5th ~9th century Sui Dynasty →Buddhism glassware in the 6th ~9th century Tang Dynasty → High-lead glass to mimic porcelain in the 9th ~12th century Song Dynasty →Glass to mimic Jade in the 13th ~16th century Ming Dynasty → Cameo and engraving glass in the 16th ~19th century Qing Dynasty → Civil glass (blowing, hot sculpturing, lampworking) in the 20th century the Republic of China → Contemporary studio glass (glass and multi-media works).
