Bowl, blue-black and white glass, millefiori technique
Iraq?; 9th-10th century
H: 3.9; Diam: 13.8 cm
The millefiori technique, which takes its name from the Italian word meaning “thousand flowers,” reached a culmination in the Roman period, but is also known from Sasanian Iran. The technique seems to have been rediscovered by Islamic glassmakers in the 9th century, since examples of millefiori glass, including tiles, have been excavated in the Abbasid capital of Samarra. Islamic glass in this technique is fairly rare, and all the extant pieces belong to the early period. Millefiori glass is made by melting together glass threads of different colors into rods, which in turn are cut into pieces and placed side by side in a mold to be melted together.
Inv. no. 33/1978
Published in:
Kjeld von Folsach: Islamic art. The David Collection, Copenhagen 1990, cat.no. 240;
Stefano Carboni and David Whitehouse: Glass of the Sultans, Corning Museum of Glass, New York 2001, cat.no. 65;
Kjeld von Folsach: Art from the World of Islam in The David Collection, Copenhagen 2001, cat.no. 339;
Sabiha Al Khemir: Beauty and belief: crossing bridges with the arts of Islamic culture, Brigham Young University Museum of Art, Provo 2012, p. 231;
