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Late nineteenth- to early twentieth-century millefiori mosaic glass beads made in Venice, Italy.

illefiori beads made in Venice, Italy, process that it moved every glassworking furnace to
reached lofty technical and aesthetic Murano early on. Officially, Murano’s isolated
Mheights in the late 1800s to early 1900s. location on a harbor island protected the city of
The colorful, stunning-looking beads seem almost Venice in case of accidental glassworks fires. But,
magical – then we learn that they were handmade by sequestering all the operating glassworks in
using laborious, time-consuming methods in small this way, secrecy also could be preserved for the
factories and lone artisans’ homes. Glassworkers complex skill.
aptly called these seductive creations “millefiori,” Native peoples on other continents coveted the
meaning “a thousand flowers.” The beautiful colorful Venetian mosaic glass beads, nowhere
Italian name, like the remarkable beads themselves, more than in Africa. From the 1400s on, these
caught on. valued and costly beads became a major commodity
traded to Africa, and far less so to North America
ORIGINS and Asia. Beadmaking and widespread demand for
Glass beadmaking began in ancient times, long these beads enabled the small republic of Venice, with
before the first Venetian millefiori beads appeared. Murano as its center of production, to dominate
First, the ability to create glass itself had to be international trade bead markets for generations.
developed. Glazed objects were being made in
Egypt and Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) over WEST AFRICAN MARKET
5,000 years ago. Powdered silicate glazes were During the African colonial period extending
applied on the surfaces of objects like Egyptian West African peoples have adorned into the eighteenth century, shiploads upon
faience mummy beads, which—when heated with themselves with Venetian millefiori beads, shiploads of glass trade beads from shops in Venice
fire—vitrified the powder in a self-glazing process. intermixed with locally-made jewelry were reaching ports on West African shores, where
Egyptian faience beads have earthenware bead (left to right): blue-and-white “sand beads” many Native peoples enjoyed wearing these colorful
made from powdered glass Vicks and
cores coated with opaque blue-green glassy glazes. Milk of Magnesia jars (Krobo and southern millefiori beads. Angela Fisher, in Africa Adorned,
Evidence of glassworks found at Tel El Amarna Ghana groups); reddish-brown bauxite, illustrates various ways in which Africans mixed
in Upper Egypt dates from the Eighteenth Dynasty, or aluminum ore, beads (Ghana); cast Venetian beads into ethnic articles of dress, often
more than 3,500 years ago. At around the same bronze bracelet (Baule); and wearing trade beads alongside other locally-made
time, in about 1600 BCE, a glass goblet excavated cast bronze beads (Ashante). accouterments like glass, ivory, and metal accessories.
at Tell al-Rimah in Mesopotamia was made using Around 400 varieties of beads were being made
thin, malleable, colored glass rods that were applied up and down on in Venice by the mid-19th century, but individual African tribal groups
the surface of a sand or mud core to create the goblet’s zigzag pattern. favored no more than five to ten colors, sizes, or shapes. Mosaic glass
By 3,000 years ago, glass vessels and glass beads likely were already beads not only were bright, decorative elements of personal adornment
being made and used in many locations beyond Egypt and but they also functioned as an important form of Native currency.
Mesopotamia, including Rome, from where the knowledge spread During the African colonial period, Triangle Trade ships brought
widely throughout the Empire. Venetian beads and other trade goods to West African Gold Coast
Mosaic glass beadmaking in Venice itself dates to the days of the ports, where huge numbers of beads of certain shapes and colors were
Venetian merchant Marco Polo, who brought back beautiful beads traded and exchanged widely for valued commodities like palm oil,
from Asia when he returned from his travels in 1294 CE. Over two ivory, and gold. From West Africa, the ships traveled onward to the
thousand years after mosaic glassmaking first had West Indies plantations, where African resources
been developed in western Asia, eager Venetian were exchanged for produce. Then, the produce-
glassworkers reinvented the ancient method. In laden ships finally returned to Europe, before once
her book The History of Beads, Lois Sherr Dubin again setting out.
more fully discusses the development of Venetian In Native Africa, Venetian glass beads
beadmaking in the broader context of its times. remained in high demand throughout this long
Ultimately, Venice established an official period. Even into the 1950s, the Zulu, alone, were
Glassmakers Guild to regulate and control glass importing over 40 tons of beads a year. Glass
production in the city and to make sure that trade beadmaking designs had became more complex
secrets were not leaked out to other parts of through the previous three or four centuries as
Europe and Asia. Venice so jealously guarded the Venetian workers developed new methods.
highly specialized skill and knowledge involved in Mosaic glass beads dating to the For about a century or longer, Venice appears
early to mid-1800s.
the multi-stepped mosaic glass beadmaking to have lost the knowledge of millefiori mosaic
30 2021 Annual Glass Section Journal of Antiques and Collectibles