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(Created 1999)
Many different cultures used glass to simulate precious stones at various time periods. The facsimiles were produced by a variety of techniques. Glass imitations were made when it was cheaper to use glass than to use the real thing.
Originating in either Mesopotamia or Egypt by 4000 BC, sand-core glass beads called faience beads were the earliest known imitations. The Egyptians imitated stones such as turquoise and lapis lazuli because the people wanted to wear beads similar to those worn by the wealthy. When the technology developed to make actual glass beads, resulting in high quality products, the Egyptians continued to imitate nature. Egyptian techniques were passed through several other cultures until it reached the Greeks who continued to imitate the same precious stones.
The Greeks passed their knowledge to the Romans who eventually began to imitate agates. Roman glass agates were so well made it was almost impossible to distinguish them from real agates. Various glass techniques, which included wound glass, were utilized in the construction of the fakes. Under the expansion of Roman rule, glassmakers continued to spread these techniques and styles to other areas. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the Migration Period (406-453 AD) continued the distribution of Roman styles and techniques.
The Far East also had used glass to imitate precious stones. During the thirteenth century, Marco Polo noted that wealthy Tibetans valued Italian coral beads and the less-affluent valued coral-colored glass beads. Prayer-boxes that were inlaid with glass-simulated precious stones were hung from the necklaces of wealthy noblewomen (209). Mutisalah beads or Indian Reds, which resemble carnelian, are opaque red glass beads. They originated in South India around 200BC and were made in a variety of places until the 16th century.
In Northern India beads which imitated onyx, agate, and carnelian have been dated from 250 B.C to 450 AD. Their beads were then traded to many different places, including Europe. (Dubin 195) When India’s trading power began to decline in the 15th century, Italy and Germany began to invade the market. At this time Venice rediscovered old Roman techniques (Dubin 77) and began to copy Indian designs (Dubin 195).
All of the beads in my piece are made by the wound glass technique, a period technique. While all of the beads I made may not have been made in period, they could have been. Neither the amber or the malachite were imitated in period; however, amber was one of the first materials ever used for personal adornment. It was in continuous demand to the present day. Amber beads were traded everywhere. While amber was not one of the beads imitated in glass in period, I chose to make imitation amber because of its current high price and popularity. These are the same reasons why imitations were down in period by varius cultures. While I have also found no indication that malachite was ever duplicated, I included the imitations malachite (the green beads) because I thought they were pretty and could easily have been duplicated.
Dubin, Lois Sherr. The History of Beads: From 30,000 BC to the Present (Concise Edition) . New York: Abradale, 1987.
(Copyright 1999, Katherine Estep Stehenson)