Roman, Imperial period, ca. 1st century CE. A collection of twenty-nine glass millefiori beads, mostly spherical, but with some elongated ovoids and cylinders, as well as approximately fifty small dark blue glass beads, four of which appear to have once been gilded or to have attained a golden patina over time. The millefiori beads are all black, with white and occasionally green trailing linear and dot motifs. These ancient beads are on a modern cord with a modern sterling silver clasp to create wearable ancient art! Size of largest bead: 0.95" W (2.4 cm); length of cord: 23" L (58.4 cm)

The ancient millefiori technique uses multicolored glass rods cut into cross section to create their distinctive patterns. To make millefiori beads, artisans produced glass canes or rods, called murrine, by layering different-colored glass around a core. At that stage, their multicolored patterns would only be visible from the cut ends of the cane. The rods were heated and stretched until thin, then cut into beads.

Provenance: ex-private New York, USA collection

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#138095

Ancient beads on a modern cord with a modern clasp. The beads have some small chips commensurate with age, as well as patina. Some of the blue beads either have the remains of gilding or a golden patina.