millefiori

File:Perugia MANU coppe-Todi.jpg of Todi, first half of the 2nd century BC]]

The manufacture of mosaic beads can be traced to Ancient Roman, Phoenician and Alexandrian times. Canes, probably made in Italy, have been found as far away as 8th century archaeological sites in Ireland.Susan Youngs (ed), "The Work of Angels", Masterpieces of Celtic Metalwork, 6th-9th centuries AD, 1989, British Museum Press, London, {{ISBN|0-7141-0554-6}} Millefiori beads have been uncovered from digs at Sandby borg, Öland, Sweden, dating apparently from the late 5th or early 6th century.Alfsdotter, C., Papmehl-Dufay, L., & Victor, H. (2018). A moment frozen in time: Evidence of a late fifth-century massacre at Sandby borg. Antiquity, 92(362), 421-436. doi:10.15184/aqy.2018.21 A piece of millefiori was found, along with unworked garnets, in a purse at the early 7th century Anglo-Saxon burial site at Sutton Hoo.

The technical knowledge for creating millefiori was lost by the eighteenth century, and the technique was not revived until the nineteenth century.{{Cite web|url=http://www.museum.state.il.us/exhibits/barker/techniques/tech_millefiori.php|title=History of millefiori}} Within several years of the technique's rediscovery, factories in Italy, France and England were manufacturing millefiori canes. They were often incorporated into fine glass art paperweights.

Until the 15th century, Murano glass makers were only producing drawn Rosetta beads made from molded Rosetta canes. Rosetta beads are made by the layering of a variable number of layers of glass of various colors in a mold, and by pulling the soft glass from both ends until the cane has reached the desired thickness. It is then cut into short segments for further processing.{{Cite web|url=http://www.fossilfly.com/Creating_a_Millefiore_Pendant.htm|title=History of the Murano Glass Pendant|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090305115217/http://fossilfly.com/Creating_a_Millefiore_Pendant.htm|archive-date=2009-03-05}}

The millefiori technique involves the production of glass canes or rods, known as murrine, with multicolored patterns which are viewable only from the cut ends of the cane. A murrine rod is heated in a furnace and pulled until thin while still maintaining the cross section's design. It is then cut into beads or discs when cooled.

File:Millefiori Jawsaq al-Khaqani Louvre OA7735 44-45.jpg|Fragments of tile from the Jawsaq al-Khaqani palace, Abbasid Samarra, Iraq, ca. 836 AD

File:Roman millifiori.jpg|Venetian millefiori bead Murano (1850–1950)

File:Millefiori beads, 1920s.JPG|Millefiori beads from Murano, 1920s

File:Milliflori.jpg|Millefiori glass pendant

• Mille-fleur, a French term used to refer to a background composed of small flowers
• Venetian beads
• Trade beads for the use of millefiori beads in the slave trade
• Glass museums and galleries
• Murrine
• Glass mosaic

{{Reflist}}

• [https://modernchandelier.com/collections/chandeliers Chandeliers Collections]
• {{Commonscatinline}}

{{Glass forming}}

{{Beadwork}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Glass art

Category:Beadwork

Category:Glass production

Category:Italian words and phrases